Problems in the philosophy of law fall roughly into two groups. The first contains problems internal to law and legal systems as such. These include (a) the nature of legal rules [etc] * * * The second group of problems concerns the relations between law as one particular social instituion in a society and the wider political and moral life of that society. Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy, Audi ed., Cambridge U. Press (1995), "philosophy of law" entry at 589-90. see Note, Standing To Assert Constitutional Jus Tertii, 88 Harv.L.Rev. 423, 431-436 (1974) ================================================================================ >>> Baker v. Carr, 369 U.S. 186, 204 (1962) III. STANDING. A federal court cannot "pronounce any statute, either of a State or of the United States, void, because irreconcilable with the Constitution, except as it is called upon to adjudge the legal rights of litigants in actual controversies." Liverpool Steamship Co. v. Commissioners of Emigration, 113 U.S. 33, 39 . Have the appellants alleged such a personal stake in the outcome of the controversy as to assure that concrete adverseness which sharpens the presentation of issues upon which the court so largely depends for illumination of difficult constitutional questions? This is the gist of the question of standing. It is, of course, a question of federal law. * * * [369 U.S. 186, 206] We hold that the appellants do have standing to maintain this suit. Our decisions plainly support this conclusion. Many of the cases have assumed rather than articulated the premise in deciding the merits of similar claims. 26 And Colegrove v. Green, supra, squarely held that voters who allege facts showing disadvantage to themselves as individuals have standing to sue. 27 A number [369 U.S. 186, 207] of cases decided after Colegrove recognized the standing of the voters there involved to bring those actions. 28 These appellants seek relief in order to protect or vindicate an interest of their own, and of those similarly situated. Their constitutional claim is, in substance, that the 1901 statute constitutes arbitrary and capricious state action, offensive to the Fourteenth Amendment in its irrational disregard of the standard of apportionment prescribed by the State's Constitution or of any standard, effecting a gross disproportion of representation to voting population. The injury which appellants assert is that this classification disfavors the voters in the counties in which they reside, placing them in a position of constitutionally unjustifiable inequality vis-a-vis voters [369 U.S. 186, 208] in irrationally favored counties. A citizen's right to a vote free of arbitrary impairment by state action has been judicially recognized as a right secured by the Constitution, when such impairment resulted from dilution by a false tally, cf. United States v. Classic, 313 U.S. 299 ; or by a refusal to count votes from arbitrarily selected precincts, cf. United States v. Mosley, 238 U.S. 383 , or by a stuffing of the ballot box, cf. Ex parte Siebold, 100 U.S. 371 ; United States v. Saylor, 322 U.S. 385 . It would not be necessary to decide whether appellants' allegations of impairment of their votes by the 1901 apportionment will, ultimately, entitle them to any relief, in order to hold that they have standing to seek it. If such impairment does produce a legally cognizable injury, they are among those who have sustained it. They are asserting "a plain, direct and adequate interest in maintaining the effectiveness of their votes," Coleman v. Miller, 307 U.S., at 438, not merely a claim of "the right, possessed by every citizen, to require that the Government be administered according to law . . . ." Fairchild v. Hughes, 258 U.S. 126, 129 ; compare Leser v. Garnett, 258 U.S. 130 . They are entitled to a hearing and to the District Court's decision on their claims. "The very essence of civil liberty certainly consists in the right of every individual to claim the protection of the laws, whenever he receives an injury." Marbury v. Madison, 1 Cranch 137, 163. >>> Fairchild v. Hughes, 258 U.S. 126 (1922), 129. "Plaintiff's alleged interest in the question submitted is not such as to afford a basis for this proceeding. It is frankly a proceeding to have the Nineteenth Amendment declared void. In form it is a bill in equity; but it is not a case, within the meaning of section 2 of article 3 of the Constitution, which confers judicial power on the federal courts, for no claim of plaintiff is 'brought before the court[s] for determination by such regular proceedings as are established by law or custom for the protection or enforcement of rights, or the prevention, redress, or punishment of wrongs.' See In re Pacific Railway Commission (C. C.) 32 Fed. 241, 255, quoted in Muskrat v. United States, 219 U.S. 346, 357 , 31 S. Sup. Ct. 250. The alleged wrongful act of the Secretary of State, said to be threatening, is the issuing of a proclamation which plaintiff asserts will be vain, but will mislead election officers. The alleged wrongful act of the Attorney General, said to be threatening, is the enforcement, as against election officers, of the penalties to be imposed by a contemplated act of Congress which plaintiff asserts would be unconstitutional. But plaintiff is not an election officer; and the state of New York, of which he is a citizen, had previously amended its own Constitution so as to grant the suffrage to women, and had ratified this amendment. Plaintiff has only the right, possessed by every citizen, to require that the government be administered according to law and that the public moneys be not wasted. Obviously this general right does not entitle a private citizen to institute in the [258 U.S. 126, 130] federal courts a suit to secure by indirection a determination whether a statute, if passed, or a constitutional amendment, about to be adopted, will be valid. Compare Giles v. Harris, 189 U.S. 475 , 23 Sup. Ct. 639; Tyler v. Judges of Court of Registration, 179 U.S. 405 , 21 Sup. Ct. 206. "Decree affirmed." >>> Muskrat v. United States, 219 U.S. 346 (1911), 357: "* * * By cases and controversies are intended the claims of litigants brought before the courts for determination by such regular proceedings as are established by law or custom for the protection or enforcement of rights, or the prevention, redress, or punishment of wrongs. Whenever the claim of a party under the Constitution, laws, or treaties of the United States takes such a form that the judicial power is capable of acting upon it, then it has become a case. The term implies the existence of present or possible adverse parties, whose contentions are submitted to the court for adjudication." * * *