Is there a doctrine of standing in California?

Author:  Damien M. Schiff

That's a question that I and my colleague Joshua Thompson are seeking to answer in a draft law review article that we've just posted on the Legal Scholarship Network, entitled California Standing Doctrine:  The Enigma Explained.  We would welcome any comments from blog readers, particularly those in the legal profession.  The paper's thesis is that there is, properly speaking, no true federal standing analogue in California, principally because the two types of standing whose nonrecognition by the federal courts in practice defines federal standing—i.e., taxpayer and citizen standing—are recognized in California (and many other states, for that matter).  Accordingly, it's our view that the utility of maintaining a standing doctrine in California is minimal, and vastly outweighed in any event by the doctrinal confusion that comes from using inapt federal analogues.