Cite as: 508 U. S. 656 (1993)
Opinion of the Court
versy." Id., at 962. Citing Turner v. Fouche, we emphasized that the plaintiffs' injury was the "obstacle to [their] candidacy," 457 U. S., at 962 (emphasis added); we did not require any allegation that the plaintiffs would actually have been elected but for the prohibition.
The decision that is most closely analogous to this case, however, is Regents of Univ. of Cal. v. Bakke, 438 U. S. 265 (1978), where a twice-rejected white male applicant claimed that a medical school's admissions program, which reserved 16 of the 100 places in the entering class for minority applicants, was inconsistent with the Equal Protection Clause. Addressing the argument that the applicant lacked standing to challenge the program, Justice Powell concluded that the "constitutional requirements of Art. III" had been satisfied, because the requisite "injury" was the medical school's "decision not to permit Bakke to compete for all 100 places in the class, simply because of his race." Id., at 281, n. 14 (emphasis added) (principal opinion). Thus, "even if Bakke had been unable to prove that he would have been admitted in the absence of the special program, it would not follow that he lacked standing." Id., at 280-281, n. 14 (emphasis added). This portion of Justice Powell's opinion was joined by four other Justices. See id., at 272.4
4 Although Bakke came to us from state court, our decision in ASARCO Inc. v. Kadish, 490 U. S. 605 (1989), does not retroactively render Bakke's discussion of standing dictum. See Brief for Public Citizen et al. as Amici Curiae 7, n. 4 (suggesting that it might). In ASARCO we held that we had jurisdiction to review the judgment of a state court even though the respondents (plaintiffs in the trial court) "had no standing to sue under the principles governing the federal courts," 490 U. S., at 623, because the petitioners (defendants in the trial court) "allege[d] a specific injury stemming from the state-court decree," id., at 617. But we did not hold that it was irrelevant whether the state-court plaintiffs met federal standing requirements; instead we made it clear that a determination that the plaintiffs satisfied those requirements would have "obviated any further inquiry." Id., at 623, n. 2. Thus, while Bakke's standing was not a necessary condition for our exercise of jurisdiction, it was sufficient.
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