Which of the following is a core element of standing in federal courts?

Which of the following is a core element of standing in federal courts?

• A. Intervention
• B. Notification
• C. Jurisdiction
• D. Injury

Answer: (D)

Standing requires an injury in fact—the plaintiff must actually have suffered or imminent sufferance of a concrete, particularized harm that is caused by the defendant’s conduct and could be redressed by a court ruling. This injury in fact is the essential hook that makes a dispute appropriate for federal adjudication; without it, there’s no basis to sue, even if other legal questions are present. The other options don’t capture this requirement: intervention concerns allowing a third party to enter a case, notification isn’t a standing requirement, and jurisdiction is about the court’s power to hear cases in general rather than whether a plaintiff has suffered a redressable injury.

Standing requires an injury in fact—the plaintiff must actually have suffered or imminent sufferance of a concrete, particularized harm that is caused by the defendant’s conduct and could be redressed by a court ruling. This injury in fact is the essential hook that makes a dispute appropriate for federal adjudication; without it, there’s no basis to sue, even if other legal questions are present. The other options don’t capture this requirement: intervention concerns allowing a third party to enter a case, notification isn’t a standing requirement, and jurisdiction is about the court’s power to hear cases in general rather than whether a plaintiff has suffered a redressable injury.