How Small will Flast Get?

The Court is taking yet another citizen standing case, deciding whether taxpayers have standing to challenge the constitutionality of President Bush's faith-based initiative. (AP report here). This may be the closest case in terms of its facts to the wacky Flast v. Cohen case where the Court held that taxpayers have standing to challenge federal property grants to religious organizations. As the Court has made clear by repeatedly refusing to expand Flast beyond its facts, this is the only situation where people can sue the government just because they don't like what the government is doing.

Last term the Court decided DaimlerChrysler v. Cuno, and unanimously held that the plaintiffs lacked standing to challenge state tax subsidies to an automanufacturer. Standing had been asserted based on taxpayer status only. The Court didn't overturn Flast in that case, but it's difficult to see how they can avoid doing so in dismissing the faith-based initiative case without completely sacrificing what's left of its credibility in the taxpayer standing arena.