As the Majority opinion highlights in its treatment of the merits, PETA brought a frivolous lawsuit here. The argument that animals have statutory standing to maintain a Copyright Act claim—or any property right claims—is an easy question. Under the holding in Cetacean Community v. Bush, 386 F.3d 1169 (9th Cir. 2004), the Copyright Act, and basic property law, animals have no such rights.
However, to reach its conclusion on the Copyright Act question, the Majority ignores its own conclusion regarding standing, instead determining that: (1) next-friend standing is nonjurisdictional; and (2) even if the elements of next-friend standing are not met, any third-party may still bring suit on behalf of anyone or anything—without the real party in interest’s permission—as long as (A) the real party in interest has an Article III injury; and (B) the real party in interest is “adequately protected” by the purported next friend’s (or self-appointed lawyer’s) representation. Maj. Op. at 422–23. That determination fails to follow United States Supreme Court or Ninth Circuit precedent. Let me explain.
The Supreme Court was explicit:
The burden is on the “next friend” clearly to establish the propriety of his status and thereby justify the jurisdiction of the court.
These limitations on the “next friend” doctrine are driven by the recognition that “[i]t was not intended that the writ of habeas corpus should be availed of, as matter of course, by intruders or uninvited meddlers, styling themselves next friends.” Indeed, if there were no restriction on “next friend” standing in federal courts, the litigant asserting only a generalized interest in constitutional governance could circumvent the jurisdictional limits of Art. III simply by assuming the mantle of “next friend.”
Whitmore, 495 U.S. at 164, 110 S.Ct. 1717 (emphasis added & internal citations omitted) (quoting United States ex rel. Bryant v. Houston, 273 F. 915, 916 (2d Cir. 1921) ). We have also been explicit: failing to meet the standing requirements for next-friend standing removes jurisdiction of the court. Coalition, 310 F.3d at 1162–65 (dismissing case and vacating lower ruling which reached the merits, after finding there was no next-friend standing); see also Massie ex rel. Kroll v. Woodford, 244 F.3d 1192, 1198–99 (9th Cir. 2001) (per curiam) (dismissing emergency motion for a stay of execution because purported next friend failed to meet the standing requirements).
To buttress these conclusions, I (1) outline the basics of Article III standing and the next friend exception to Article III standing; (2) summarize the Majority’s reasoning and decision; and (3) demonstrate the legal errors in the Majority opinion.
I. The basics of Article III standing and next-friend standing.
Article III of the United States Constitution limits the Federal Judiciary’s power to “cases” and “controversies.” U.S. Const. Art. III, § 2, cl. 1. The “doctrine of standing” is one of the “landmarks” that “set[s] apart the ‘Cases’ and ‘Controversies’ that are of the justiciable sort referred to in Article III—‘serving to identify those disputes which are appropriately resolved through the judicial process.’ ” Lujan v. Defenders of Wildlife, 504 U.S. 555, 560, 112 S.Ct. 2130, 119 L.Ed.2d 351 (1992) (original alterations omitted) (quoting Whitmore, 495 U.S. at 155, 110 S.Ct. 1717); see also Warth v. Seldin, 422 U.S. 490, 498, 95 S.Ct. 2197, 45 L.Ed.2d 343 (1975) (“In its constitutional dimension, standing im-
