Opinion

Iron Arrow Honor Society v. Heckler

  • 464 U.S. 67
  • 52 U.S.L.W. 3384
  • 104 S. Ct. 373
  • 78 L. Ed. 2d 58
  • 1983 U.S. LEXIS 119
Court
Supreme Court of the United States
Filed
Nov 14, 1983
Status
Published
Author
Brennan
On the bench
Brennan, Stevens, Marshall, Blackmun
Cited by
483 cases

holding that university’s new policy against discriminatory acts of all-male honorary society mooted the society’s appeal seeking to prevent Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare from interpreting the law to require the university to ban society’s activities from campus

How later courts described this case

  • holding that university’s new policy against discriminatory acts of all-male honorary society mooted the society’s appeal seeking to prevent Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare from interpreting the law to require the university to ban society’s activities from campus
  • holding that the voluntary cessation exception does not apply when the case is mooted by the “voluntary acts of a third party non-defendant”
  • explaining that mootness is jurisdictional and the court must consider it even when no party has raised the issue
  • affirming the district court's grant of dismissal under Rule 12(b)(1) because the plaintiffs lacked Article III standing

Written by the judges who cited it.

The opinion

Justice Brennan,

dissenting.

In my view, the issue of mootness is sufficiently dependent on uncertain factual issues concerning the University’s present intention and future conduct that I would grant the petition for certiorari, vacate the decision of the Court of Appeals, and remand for resolution of this issue.

This is a copy of a public record, reproduced as it was published. It is not legal advice, and it may not be the version a court would rely on. Check the official source before you cite it.

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