58
Opinion of the Court
conclusions: AOE and Park met Article III requirements and could proceed as appellants; Arizona's Attorney General, however, having successfully moved in the District Court for his dismissal as a defendant, could not reenter as a party, but would be permitted to present argument regarding the constitutionality of Article XXVIII. Id., at 738-740. The Ninth Circuit reported it would retain jurisdiction over the District Court's decision on the merits, id., at 740, but did not then address the question whether Article XXVIII's meaning should be certified for definitive resolution by the Arizona Supreme Court.
Concerning AOE's standing, the Court of Appeals reasoned that the Arizona Legislature would have standing to defend the constitutionality of a state statute; by analogy, the Ninth Circuit maintained, AOE, as principal sponsor of the ballot initiative, qualified to defend Article XXVIII on appeal. Id., at 732-733; see also id., at 734, n. 5 ("[W]e hold that AOE has standing in the same way that a legislature might."). AOE Chairman Park also had standing to appeal, according to the Ninth Circuit, because Yniguez "could have had a reasonable expectation that Park (and possibly AOE as well) would bring an enforcement action against her" under § 4 of Article XXVIII, which authorizes any person residing in Arizona to sue in state court to enforce the Article. Id., at 734, and n. 5.11
11 In a remarkable passage, the Ninth Circuit addressed Yniguez's argument, opposing intervention by AOE and Park, that the District Court's judgment was no impediment to any state-court proceeding AOE and Park might wish to bring, because that judgment is not a binding precedent on Arizona's judiciary. See 939 F. 2d, at 735-736. The Court of Appeals questioned the wisdom of the view expressed "in the academic literature," "by some state courts," and by "several individual justices" that state courts are "coordinate and coequal with the lower federal courts on matters of federal law." Id., at 736 (footnote omitted). The Ninth Circuit acknowledged "there may be valid reasons not to bind the state courts to a decision of a single federal district judge—which is not even binding on the same judge in a subsequent action." Id., at 736-737. However, the appellate panel added, those reasons "are inapplicable to
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