Sierra Club v. Morton
United States Supreme Court
405 U.S. 727 (1972)
The Forest Service approved a $35 million Walt Disney Enterprises development proposal — including motels, restaurants, a ski resort, and supporting infrastructure for 14,000 daily visitors — for the undeveloped Mineral King Valley in California's Sierra Nevada Mountains; the Sierra Club (plaintiff), a membership organization with a general interest in conservation, sued the Secretary of the Interior (defendant) under the Administrative Procedure Act to block the development, without alleging its members actually used Mineral King Valley in any specific way. The district court granted an injunction, but the court of appeals reversed, finding the Sierra Club lacked standing and hadn't shown irreparable injury or likelihood of success; the Supreme Court granted certiorari.
Whether a membership organization's mere interest in a problem, without a showing that its members would suffer actual injury, is sufficient to show that the entity has standing to seek judicial review of an action by a federal agency.