114
Stevens, J., concurring in judgment
question as a jurisdictional one in its briefs before this Court.2
The threshold issue concerning the meaning of § 326 is virtually identical to the question that we decided in Gwaltney of Smithfield, Ltd. v. Chesapeake Bay Foundation, Inc., 484 U. S. 49 (1987). In that case, we considered whether § 505(a) of the Clean Water Act allows suits for wholly past violations.3 We unanimously characterized that question as a matter of "jurisdiction":
"In this case, we must decide whether § 505(a) of the Clean Water Act, also known as the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, 33 U. S. C. § 1365(a), confers federal jurisdiction over citizen suits for wholly past violations." Id., at 52.
See also Block v. Community Nutrition Institute, 467 U. S. 340, 353, n. 4 (1984) (citing National Railroad Passenger Corp. v. National Assn. of Railroad Passengers, 414 U. S. 453, 456, 465, n. 13 (1974)). If we resolve the comparable statutory issue in the same way in this case, federal courts will have no jurisdiction to address the merits in future similar cases. Thus, this is not a case in which the choice between resolving the statutory question or the standing question first is a choice between a merits issue and a jurisclusion that EPCRA confers federal jurisdiction over citizen lawsuits for past violations").
2 Brief for Petitioner 12 ("A statute conferring jurisdiction on the federal courts should . . . be strictly construed, and any doubts resolved against jurisdiction. Here there are serious doubts that Congress intended citizens to sue for past EPCRA violations, and all citizen plaintiffs can highlight is a slight difference in language and attempt to stretch that difference into federal jurisdiction"); see also id., at 26, 30.
3 Gwaltney contended that "because its last recorded violation occurred several weeks before respondents filed their complaint, the District Court lacked subject-matter jurisdiction over respondents' action." Gwaltney, 484 U. S., at 55.
Page: Index Previous 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 NextLast modified: October 4, 2007