ABA Banking Journal
No Result
View All Result
  • Topics
    • Ag Banking
    • Commercial Lending
    • Community Banking
    • Compliance and Risk
    • Cybersecurity
    • Economy
    • Human Resources
    • Insurance
    • Legal
    • Mortgage
    • Mutual Funds
    • Payments
    • Policy
    • Retail and Marketing
    • Tax and Accounting
    • Technology
    • Wealth Management
  • Newsbytes
  • Podcasts
  • Magazine
    • Subscribe
    • Advertise
    • Magazine Archive
    • Newsletter Archive
    • Podcast Archive
    • Sponsored Content Archive
SUBSCRIBE
ABA Banking Journal
  • Topics
    • Ag Banking
    • Commercial Lending
    • Community Banking
    • Compliance and Risk
    • Cybersecurity
    • Economy
    • Human Resources
    • Insurance
    • Legal
    • Mortgage
    • Mutual Funds
    • Payments
    • Policy
    • Retail and Marketing
    • Tax and Accounting
    • Technology
    • Wealth Management
  • Newsbytes
  • Podcasts
  • Magazine
    • Subscribe
    • Advertise
    • Magazine Archive
    • Newsletter Archive
    • Podcast Archive
    • Sponsored Content Archive
No Result
View All Result
No Result
View All Result
ADVERTISEMENT
Home Uncategorized

Tenth Circuit reverses associational standing decision, embracing position in ABA amicus brief

March 4, 2024
Reading Time: 3 mins read

Associational Standing
Speech First Inc. v. Shrum
Date: Feb. 9, 2024

Issue: Whether an organization must specifically name its members, rather than using anonymous identification, to establish associational standing.

Case Summary:  In a 3-0 decision, a Tenth Circuit panel ruled organizations are not required to specifically name their members to establish associational standing.

Speech First sued the president of Oklahoma State University (OSU) for harassment and infringing OSU Students’ speech rights. Speech First relied on associational standing, which requires an organization to identify members who themselves possess Article III standing. In its complaint, OSU identified three member students as “Student A, B and C,” and argued their First Amendment rights were violated. The students hold controversial positions on hot-button political issues and wish to discuss those issues without fear of punishment. The students seek to remain pseudonymous due to fear of retaliation from the university, their professors, peers and others for their participation in this lawsuit.

OSU moved to dismiss, arguing Speech First must identify its members by name under the Supreme Court’s decision in Summers v. Earth Island Institute. In Summers, environmentalist organizations claimed associational standing on behalf of their unidentified members. The Court rejected the organizations’ failure to identify members with standing. The Court explained “the requirement of naming the affected members has never been dispensed … but only where all the members of the organization are affected by the challenged activity.” In response, Speech First argued the case law requiring identification of members with standing should not apply with the same force at the motion-to-dismiss stage. Speech First also argued the case law interpreting Summers only requires organizations to identify members in some way to show specific individual members have standing.

The district court dismissed the case for lack of standing because Speech First did not name its members. Noting the Tenth Circuit’s silence on Summers, the court explained it is “inclined to take Summers at its word.” Speech First appealed the decision.

On appeal, the American Bankers Association and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce (Amici) filed an amicus brief urging the Tenth Circuit to reverse. First, Amici argued the names of an association’s members are irrelevant to Article III standing because they do not affect injury, traceability, or redressability. Amici also argued the district court’s erroneous application of associational standing creates significant First Amendment problems. Amici emphasized that “the district court’s interpretation of Summers is not just incorrect on its own terms, it also runs headlong into the First Amendment and would threaten to chill protected speech.” Further, Amici explains the Supreme Court has long recognized associations have a First Amendment right to keep their membership anonymous from the government.

A unanimous Tenth Circuit panel reversed, concluding Speech First has standing to sue on behalf of its members. The panel explained that organizations have standing to sue if: at least one of its members would have standing to sue in the member’s own right; the interest it seeks to protect is germane to its purpose; and neither the claim asserted, nor the relief requested, requires the member to participate in the lawsuit.  OSU did not dispute the second and third elements were satisfied, and merely contended the first element could not be satisfied when an organization’s members were not identified by name. According to the panel, OSU “suggested no reason why the use of a pseudonym by the injured member of the organization filing suit should defeat standing when the injured member alone would have standing to bring the claim as an individual plaintiff under a pseudonym.”

The panel also emphasized that longstanding and well-established doctrine in the federal courts establishes that anonymous persons may have standing to sue. The panel explained that Roe v. Wade has precedential value. In Roe, the Court determined that “despite the use of the pseudonym, no suggestion is made that Roe is a fictitious person.” The panel also relied on NAACP v. Alabama ex. Rel. Patterson where the U.S. Supreme Court held that the anonymous status of an associations’ members “posed no standing hurdle.”

Bottom Line: The has been no indication of whether OSU will appeal the Tenth Circuit’s decision.

Documents: Opinion

ADVERTISEMENT
Tags: Banking Docket
ShareTweetPin

Related Posts

Recent news from Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control: April 5

Recent news from Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control: June 9

Uncategorized
June 9, 2025

News items that are the most recent sanctions-related actions from the Office of Foreign Assets Control.

Preliminary injunction denied in bid to delay Capital One’s Discover purchase

Preliminary injunction denied in bid to delay Capital One’s Discover purchase

Uncategorized
June 2, 2025

A California federal court denied a group of consumers’ motion for a preliminary injunction seeking to delay Capital One’s impending purchase of Discover.

Third Circuit reverses FCRA lawsuit against Nissan over lease dispute

Third Circuit reverses FCRA lawsuit against Nissan over lease dispute

Uncategorized
June 2, 2025

A unanimous Third Circuit panel reversed a New Jersey federal court decision and ruled that a jury could find Nissan’s credit reporting inaccurate and its investigation unreasonable under the FCRA.

Green Dot agrees to pay Federal Reserve $44 Million to resolve UDAP allegations.

ABA, co-plaintiffs file joint motion with Federal Reserve to stay proceedings in stress test lawsuit

Uncategorized
June 2, 2025

ABA and its co-plaintiffs filed a joint motion with the Fed to stay proceedings in their lawsuit claiming the Fed’s stress testing framework violates the APA.

U.S. Supreme Court vacates Ninth Circuit preemption decision

U.S. Supreme Court clarifies wire fraud liability

Uncategorized
June 2, 2025

In a unanimous decision, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled a defendant may be convicted of federal fraud for inducing a victim to enter into a transaction under materially false pretenses, even if the defendant did not intend to...

Eleventh Circuit revives cash advance fraud lawsuit against Citigroup

Eleventh Circuit revives cash advance fraud lawsuit against Citigroup

Uncategorized
June 2, 2025

In a unanimous decision, an Eleventh Circuit panel reversed and remanded a district court’s dismissal of a lawsuit alleging Citigroup operated a cash advance fraud scheme.

NEWSBYTES

ABA, associations urge CFPB to rescind changes to adjudication process

June 13, 2025

ABA DataBank: May inflation cooler than expected, but still above Fed’s 2% target

June 13, 2025

Consumer sentiment rebounds in June

June 13, 2025

SPONSORED CONTENT

AI Compliance and Regulation: What Financial Institutions Need to Know

Unlocking Deposit Growth: How Financial Institutions Can Activate Data for Precision Cross-Sell

June 1, 2025
Choosing the Right Account Opening Platform: 10 Key Considerations for Long-Term Success

Choosing the Right Account Opening Platform: 10 Key Considerations for Long-Term Success

April 25, 2025
Outsourcing: Getting to Go/No-Go

Outsourcing: Getting to Go/No-Go

April 5, 2025
Six Payments Trends Driving the Future of Transactions

Six Payments Trends Driving the Future of Transactions

March 15, 2025

PODCASTS

Podcast: Old National’s Jim Ryan on the things that really matter

June 12, 2025

Podcast: What bankers need to know about ‘First Amendment audits’

June 5, 2025

Podcast: Accelerating banking for quick-service restaurants

May 8, 2025
ADVERTISEMENT

American Bankers Association
1333 New Hampshire Ave NW
Washington, DC 20036
1-800-BANKERS (800-226-5377)
www.aba.com
About ABA
Privacy Policy
Contact ABA

ABA Banking Journal
About ABA Banking Journal
Media Kit
Advertising
Subscribe

© 2025 American Bankers Association. All rights reserved.

No Result
View All Result
  • Topics
    • Ag Banking
    • Commercial Lending
    • Community Banking
    • Compliance and Risk
    • Cybersecurity
    • Economy
    • Human Resources
    • Insurance
    • Legal
    • Mortgage
    • Mutual Funds
    • Payments
    • Policy
    • Retail and Marketing
    • Tax and Accounting
    • Technology
    • Wealth Management
  • Newsbytes
  • Podcasts
  • Magazine
    • Subscribe
    • Advertise
    • Magazine Archive
    • Newsletter Archive
    • Podcast Archive
    • Sponsored Content Archive

© 2025 American Bankers Association. All rights reserved.