Sprint Communications Co. v. APCC Services, Inc.

Chief Justice Roberts, with whom Justice Scalia, Justice Thomas, and Justice Alito join,

dissenting.

The majority concludes that a private litigant may sue in federal court despite having to “pass back ... all proceeds of the litigation,” Brief for Respondents 9, thus depriving that party of any stake in the outcome of the litigation. The majority reaches this conclusion, in flat contravention of our cases interpreting the case-or-controversy requirement of Article III, by reference to a historical tradition that is, at best, equivocal. That history does not contradict what common sense should…