Which is a requirement for a case to be justiciable in federal court?

• A. Standing
• B. Jurisdiction
• C. Docket control
• D. Venue

Answer: (A)

The key idea is standing: a case can only be heard in federal court if the plaintiff has a personal stake in the outcome. Standing requires a concrete and particularized injury (actual or imminent), a causal link between that injury and the defendant’s conduct, and a likelihood that the injury would be redressed by a favorable court decision. This keeps courts from deciding abstract questions or disputes in which the plaintiff has no real stake.

Docket control and venue deal with logistics, not whether a party has the right to sue in the first place. Jurisdiction is about whether the court has power to hear the case at all, which is necessary but separate from the standing requirement. Even a case in a court with proper jurisdiction can be non-justiciable if the plaintiff lacks standing.