Pennell v. City of San Jose, 485 U.S. 1 (1988)

Citation: Pennell v. City of San Jose, 485 U.S. 1 (1988)
Parent Document: Pennell v. City of San Jose, 485 U.S. 1 (1988)
Jurisdiction: United States (federal)
Effective Date: 1988-02-24
Original Source: https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/112009/pennell-v-city-of-san-jose/ ↗

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We must keep in mind, however, that “application of the constitutional standing requirement [is not] a mechanical exercise,” Allen v. Wright, 468 U. S. 737, 751 (1984), and that when standing is challenged on the basis of the pleadings, we “accept as true all material allegations of the complaint, and . . . construe the complaint in favor of the complaining party,” Warth v. Seldin, 422 U. S. 490, 501 (1975); see also Gladstone, Realtors v. Village of Bellwood, 441 U. S. 91, 109 (1979). Here, appellants specifically alleged in their complaint that appellants’ properties are “subject to the terms of” the Ordinance, and they stated at oral argument that the Association represents “most of the residential unit owners in the city and [has] many hardship tenants,” Tr. of Oral Arg. 42; see also id., at 7; Reply Brief for Appellants 2. *8Accepting the truth of these statements, which appellees do not contest, it is not “unadorned speculation,” Simon v. Eastern Kentucky Welfare Rights Organization, 426 U. S. 26, 44 (1976), to conclude that the Ordinance will be enforced against members of the Association. The likelihood of enforcement, with the concomitant probability that a landlord’s rent will be reduced below what he or she would otherwise be able to obtain in the absence of the Ordinance, is a sufficient threat of actual injury to satisfy Art. Ill’s requirement that “[a] plaintiff who challenges a statute must demonstrate a realistic danger of sustaining a direct injury as a result of the statute’s operation or enforcement.” Babbitt v. Farm Workers, 442 U. S. 289, 298 (1979).4

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