In Hall v U.S. Department of Justice, (ND CA, April 9, 2026), a California federal district court held that plaintiff lacks standing to challenge on Establishment Clause grounds the Justice Department's use of Congressionally appropriated funds to create the Task Force to Eradicate Anti-Christian Bias. Concluding that plaintiff lacks taxpayer standing, the court said in part:
If a plaintiff cannot show that the challenged action “was expressly authorized or mandated by any specific congressional enactment,” then that plaintiff’s lawsuit “is not directed at an exercise of congressional power, and . . . lacks the requisite logical nexus between taxpayer status and the type of legislative enactment attacked.”...
... [A]s alleged in his FAC, Hall is challenging allegedly unauthorized actions by the DOJ. He thus cannot show that those challenged actions were “expressly authorized or mandated by any specific congressional enactment.”
