## Facts

- The federal government declared a former military hospital property surplus under the Federal Property and Administrative Services Act of 1949.
- Acting through the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare, the government conveyed the property (appraised at $577,500) to Valley Forge Christian College for educational use.
- The conveyance included a “100% public benefit allowance,” resulting in no purchase price payment by the college.
- Americans United for Separation of Church and State, Inc., and several members and employees sued, alleging the conveyance violated the Establishment Clause.
- Plaintiffs asserted harm as taxpayers and citizens, claiming deprivation of the “fair and constitutional use” of their tax dollars and injury from government action allegedly establishing religion.

## Issues

1. Whether plaintiffs had federal taxpayer standing under *Flast v. Cohen* to challenge the conveyance as an Establishment Clause violation.
2. Whether plaintiffs had Article III standing as “citizens” based on an asserted injury in fact arising from alleged violation of the Establishment Clause.

## Decision

- The Supreme Court reversed the Third Circuit in a 5–4 decision.
- The Court held plaintiffs lacked standing as taxpayers because the challenged action was taken under the Property Clause, not Congress’s Taxing and Spending power.
- The Court held plaintiffs also lacked standing as citizens because they alleged no concrete, particularized injury, but only a generalized grievance and psychological offense.
- Because standing was absent, the Court did not reach the merits of the Establishment Clause claim.

## Legal Principles

- Article III requires a plaintiff to show a personal, actual or threatened injury fairly traceable to the challenged conduct and redressable by the court.
- Psychological offense at observing allegedly unconstitutional government conduct, without a distinct personal injury, does not satisfy injury in fact.
- Federal courts are not forums for litigants seeking to vindicate generalized value interests shared broadly by the public.
- *Flast* taxpayer standing is a narrow exception requiring (1) a challenge to Congress’s exercise of Taxing and Spending power and (2) an alleged violation of a specific constitutional limitation on that power (including the Establishment Clause).
- Government action authorized under constitutional powers other than Taxing and Spending (such as the Property Clause) generally falls outside *Flast*, leaving ordinary standing requirements controlling.

## Conclusion

The Court dismissed the Establishment Clause challenge for lack of Article III standing, ruling that neither federal taxpayer status nor a generalized citizen objection to perceived governmental endorsement of religion provides a sufficient basis to sue over an administrative transfer of surplus federal property.


Valley Forge Christian Coll. v. Ams. United for Separation of Church & State, Inc., 454 U.S. 464 (1982)