Eugene lists some possible responses to the Court’s dismissal of Newdow on standing grounds. My own reaction isn’t on the list, though: “Well, at least they didn’t affirm ‘Under God’ on the merits, thereby creating a lousy precedent that we’d be stuck with.” I was never especially otpimistic thst Newdow would win (though I thought he should win), and I’d rather have had him lose like this than to have had him lose on the merits.
On the standing question itself I have no view; I like to see stringent standing requirements, but think that they’re pretty hard to make sense of in establishment clause cases, since by definition establishment that doesn’t also impair free exercise doesn’t commit any easily-cognizable harm against any easily-identified individual. I also have no idea what precedents or principles apply to questions of standing by non-custodial parents.
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