Inner City Press v. Board of Governors of Federal Reserve System

                        United States Court of Appeals


                     FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA CIRCUIT


                           Filed December 12, 1997


                                 No. 97-1394


                         Inner City Press, et al.,  

                                 Petitioners


                                      v.


              Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, 

                                  Respondent


            Appeal from the a Decision of the Board of Governors 

                        of the Federal Reserve System


				  ---------

                             On Motion to Dismiss


     Matthew R. Lee and Laura Davis, for petitioners.

     Katherine H. Wheatley and Douglas B. Jordan were on the 
motion to dismiss, for respondent.



     Before: Wald, Silberman, and Randolph, Circuit Judges.

     Opinion for the Court filed Per Curiam.

     Per Curiam:  We publish this opinion to emphasize that 
participation in administrative proceedings before the Board 
of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, like such partic-
ipation before any agency, see Reytblatt v. United States 
Nuclear Regulatory Comm'n, 105 F.3d 715, 720 (D.C. Cir. 
1997), does not, without more, satisfy a petitioner's Article III 
injury-in-fact requirement.  This point has recently been the 
express holding of the Second Circuit in a case involving the 
same petitioners appearing here.  See Lee v. Board of Gover-
nors, 118 F.3d 905, 911 (2d Cir. 1997) (dismissing petition for 
lack of standing, notwithstanding petitioner's participation in 
administrative proceedings).

     The Bank Holding Act limits judicial review to "part[ies] 
aggrieved" by an act of the Board.  See 12 U.S.C. s 1848.  
Petitioners must, therefore, satisfy statutory prudential stan-
dards as well as constitutional requirements.  See, e.g., Syno-
vus Financial Corp. v. Board of Governors, 952 F.2d 426, 432 
(D.C. Cir. 1991) (because intervenor faces realistic threat that 
its relocation proposal will be vetoed by State if Board's order 
is upheld, intervenor is aggrieved and has standing);  Irving 
Bank Corp. v. Governors of the Fed. Reserve Sys., 845 F.2d 
1035, 1039 (D.C. Cir. 1988) (noting that petitioner has stand-
ing to seek judicial review because it has a fiduciary duty to 
protect its shareholders from injury and also participated in 
agency proceedings).  See also Brotherhood of Locomotive 
Engineers v. United States, 101 F.3d 718, 723 (D.C. Cir. 
1997).  Cf. Martin-Trigona v. Federal Reserve Bd., 509 F.2d 
363, 365-66 (D.C. Cir. 1974) (in a holding limited to the 
specific circumstances of that case, court dismissed petition 
for review brought by party who had participated in adminis-
trative proceedings before the Board, for failure to satisfy 
Article III standing requirements).

     While petitioners may have satisfied prudential standing by 
virtue of their participation in the administrative proceedings, 
see Jones v. Board of Governors, 79 F.3d 1168 (D.C. Cir. 



1996) (dismissing petition where petitioner had not participat-
ed before the Board, without addressing whether Article III 
standing had been satisfied), they have not demonstrated 
Article III standing.  See United Food and Commercial 
Workers Union Local 751 v. Brown Group, Inc., 116 S. Ct. 
1529, 1533 (1996) (three essential requirements for Article III 
standing are injury-in-fact;  casual relationship between inju-
ry and challenged conduct;  and redressability).  Therefore, 
we grant the motion to dismiss.