Cite as: 521 U. S. 811 (1997)
Breyer, J., dissenting
§ 692(a)(1) (1994 ed., Supp. II). That statutory authorization "eliminates any prudential standing limitations and significantly lessens the risk of unwanted conflict with the Legislative Branch." Ante, at 820, n. 3. Congress, however, cannot grant the federal courts more power than the Constitution itself authorizes us to exercise. Cf. Hayburn's Case, 2 Dall. 409 (1792). Thus, we can proceed to the merits only if the "judicial Power" of the United States—"extend-[ing] to . . . Cases, in Law and Equity" and to "Controversies"—covers the dispute before us. U. S. Const., Art. III, §2.
I concede that there would be no case or controversy here were the dispute before us not truly adversary, or were it not concrete and focused. But the interests that the parties assert are genuine and opposing, and the parties are therefore truly adverse. Cf. Chicago & Grand Trunk R. Co. v. Wellman, 143 U. S. 339 (1892). Moreover, as Justice Stevens points out, the harm that the plaintiffs suffer (on their view of the law) consists in part of the systematic abandonment of laws for which a majority voted, in part of the creation of other laws in violation of procedural rights which (they say) the Constitution provides them, and in part of the consequent and immediate impediment to their ability to do the job that the Constitution requires them to do. See ante, at 835-837, 838 (dissenting opinion); Complaint ¶ 14; App. 34- 36, 39-40, 42-46, 54-55, 57-59, 62-64. Since federal courts might well adjudicate cases involving comparable harms in other contexts (such as purely private contexts), the harm at issue is sufficiently concrete. Cf., e. g., Bennett v. Spear, 520 U. S. 154, 167-174 (1997); Northeastern Fla. Chapter, Associated Gen. Contractors of America v. Jacksonville, 508 U. S. 656 (1993). See also ante, at 831-832 (Souter, J., concurring in judgment). The harm is focused and the accompanying legal issues are both focused and of the sort that this Court is used to deciding. See, e. g., United States v. Munoz-Flores, 495 U. S. 385, 392-396 (1990). The plaintiffs
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