446
O'Connor, J., concurring in judgment
although petitioner is clearly injured by the fact that she has been denied citizenship, the discriminatory impact of the provision falls on petitioner's father, Charlie Miller, who is no longer a party to this suit. Consequently, I do not believe that we should consider petitioner's gender discrimination claim.
The principal opinion recognizes that petitioner's claim turns on "the proposition that her citizen father should have the same right to transmit citizenship as would a citizen mother" and resolves to "evaluate the alleged discrimination against [petitioner's father] as well as its impact on [petitioner]." Ante, at 433. But even when "the very same allegedly illegal act that affects the litigant also affects a third party," a plaintiff "cannot rest his claim to relief on the legal rights and interests of [the] third part[y]." Department of Labor v. Triplett, 494 U. S. 715, 720 (1990) (internal quotation marks omitted). A party raising a constitutional challenge to a statute must demonstrate not only "that the alleged unconstitutional feature [of the statute] injures him" but also that "he is within the class of persons with respect to whom the act is unconstitutional." Heald v. District of Columbia, 259 U. S. 114, 123 (1922). This requirement arises from the understanding that the third-party right-holder may not, in fact, wish to assert the claim in question, as well as from the belief that "third parties themselves usually will be the best proponents of their rights." Singleton, supra, at 113-114; see also Holden v. Hardy, 169 U. S. 366, 397 (1898).
In support of the decision to consider Charlie Miller's claim, both Justice Stevens, in the principal opinion, and Justice Breyer, in dissent, cite Craig v. Boren, 429 U. S. 190 (1976). In that case, we allowed a vendor to challenge a state law that permitted sales of 3.2% beer to females who had reached the age of 18 but prohibited such sales to males until they turned 21. Because the law proscribed the sale rather than the consumption of beer, the Court determined
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