Cite as: 523 U. S. 83 (1998)
Stevens, J., concurring in judgment
dictional issue; rather, it is a choice between two jurisdictional issues.
We have routinely held that when presented with two jurisdictional questions, the Court may choose which one to answer first. In Sierra Club v. Morton, 405 U. S. 727 (1972), for example, we were presented with a choice between a statutory jurisdictional question and a question of Article III standing. In that case, the United States, as respondent, argued that petitioner lacked standing under the Administrative Procedure Act and under the Constitution.4 Rather than taking up the constitutional issue, the Court stated:
"Where . . . Congress has authorized public officials to perform certain functions according to law, and has provided by statute for judicial review of those actions under certain circumstances, the inquiry as to standing must begin with a determination of whether the statute in question authorizes review at the behest of the plaintiff." Id., at 732 (emphasis added).
The Court concluded that petitioner lacked standing under the statute, id., at 732-741, and, therefore, did not need to
4 405 U. S., at 753-755 (App. to opinion of Douglas, J., dissenting) (Ex-tract from Oral Argument of the Solicitor General); Brief for Respondent in Sierra Club v. Morton, O. T. 1970, No. 70-34, p. 18 ("The irreducible minimum requirement of standing reflects the constitutional limitation of judicial power to 'Cases' and 'Controversies'—'whether the party invoking federal court jurisdiction has "a personal stake in the outcome of the controversy" . . . and whether the dispute touches upon the "legal relations of parties having adverse legal interests." ' Flast v. Cohen, 392 U. S. 83, 101 [(1968)]"); see also Brief for County of Tulare as Amicus Curiae in Sierra Club v. Morton, O. T. 1970, No. 70-34, pp. 13-14 ("This Court long ago held that to have standing . . . a party must show he has sustained or is immediately in danger of sustaining some direct injury . . . and not merely that he suffers in some indefinite way in common with people generally. This is an outgrowth of Article III of the Constitution which limits the jurisdiction of federal courts to cases and controversies. U. S. Const., art. III, § 2" (citation and internal quotation marks omitted)).
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