464
Scalia, J., dissenting
our jurisdictional holding on the basis of some misguided feeling of estoppel.
Finally, even if the Court were correct that some "change of circumstance," ante, at 446, ought to be presented before the jurisdictional objection that we denied so cursorily at the preliminary stage can be reraised, such a change in fact exists. The litigation has reached a new stage, having proceeded from a motion for judgment on the pleadings (which we denied) to cross-motions for summary judgment (which the Special Master recommended resolving in favor of Wyoming). When a district court denies the former, it need feel no compunction of consistency to deny the latter; and the same is true for us. The standing issue is obviously subject to different evaluation, depending upon the stage the litigation has reached. A plaintiff may survive a motion to dismiss for lack of injury in fact by merely alleging that a string of occurrences commencing with the challenged act has caused him injury; at that stage we presume that "general allegations embrace those specific facts that are necessary to support the claim," Lujan v. National Wildlife Federation, 497 U. S. 871, 889 (1990). See also Whitmore v. Arkansas, 495 U. S. 149, 158-159 (1990). A plaintiff cannot, however, on the basis of the same generalizations, obtain or avoid summary judgment, where a moving party must "show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact," Fed. Rule Civ. Proc. 56(c), and where a nonmoving party cannot rest on "mere allegations" to counter a properly supported motion, but must set forth "specific facts" through affidavits or other evidence, Fed. Rule Civ. Proc. 56(e). See Lujan, supra, at 884-885. See also Gladstone, Realtors v. Village of Bellwood, 441 U. S. 91, 115, and n. 31 (1979). It is the adequacy of these presentations that Oklahoma now asks us to evaluate—and we have not evaluated them before.
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