At page 3 Establishing associational standing requires identifying an injured member23 citing casesexplaining that associational standing on behalf of its members “requires, among other things, that at least one of the group’s members have standing as an individual. To satisfy this requirement, the association must, at the very least, identify a member who has suffered the requisite harm.’
- The Satanic Temple, Inc. v. Rokita, No. 1:22-cv-01859, 2023 WL 7016211 (S.D. Ind. Oct. 25, 2023). ([W]hy the advocacy group would have needed formal discovery to identify which of its own members may have been injured by the regulation is a mystery the group leaves unsolved.)
- Worma v. Healey, 293 F. Supp. 3d 251 (D.D.C. 2018).published “we now turn to the dealers' claim that the load indicator requirement is vague in violation of due process, a constitutional claim eligible only for as-applied, not facial, review.”
- The Satanic Temple v. Labrador, 149 F.4th 1047 (9th Cir. 2025).published (holding advocacy group lacked standing where its complaint “did not identify any member of the group” affected by the challenged regulation)
- Am. All. for Equal Rights v. Pritzker, No. 3:24-cv-03299 (C.D. Ill. Aug. 5, 2025).Draper, 827 F.3d at 3 (alterations and quotation marks omitted).
- North Branford Citizens Against Bulk Propane Storage v. North Branford, 330 A.3d 196 (Conn. App. Ct. 2025).published(holding that associational plaintiff was required to identify in its complaint at least one member with standing)
- Bonnet v. Whitaker, 118 F.4th 154 (1st Cir. 2024).publishedDraper v. Healey, 827 F.3d 1, 3-4 (1st Cir. 2016).
- Nat'l Ass'n of Home Builders of the United States v. Perez, No. 5:17-cv-00009 (W.D. Okla. Mar. 11, 2024).See also Do No Harm v. Pfizer Inc., No. 23-15, 2024 WL 949506 , at *7-10 (2d Cir. Mar. 6, 2024); Draper v. Healey, 827 F.3d 1, 3 (1st Cir. 2016).
- Cra v. City of Berkeley, No. 21-16278 (9th Cir. Jan. 2, 2024).published(holding that an organizational plaintiff must name at least one injured member in its complaint)
- Cra v. City of Berkeley, 89 F.4th 1094 (9th Cir. 2023).published(advocacy group lacked associational standing at the pleading stage because its “complaint did not identify any member of the group whom the regulation prevented from selling or purchasing a Glock)
- Sierra Club, Inc. & Conservation Law Found., Inc. v. Granite Shore Power LLC; GSP Merrimack LLC; & Pub. Serv. Co. of New Hampshire d/b/a Eversource Energy, 2021 DNH 189P (D.N.H. 2021).published“may be void for vagueness . . . if in the circumstances it ‘fails to provide a person of ordinary intelligence fair notice of what is prohibited”
Show 10 more citing cases
- Boston All. of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual & Transgender Youth (BAGLY) v. United States Dep't of Health & Human Servs., 557 F. Supp. 3d 224 (D. Mass. 2021).published“[t]he complainant must set forth reasonably definite factual allegations, either direct or inferential, regarding each material element needed to sustain standing”
- Equal Means Equal v. David Ferriero, 478 F. Supp. 3d 105 (D. Mass. 2020).published“at the very least, ‘identify [a] member[ ] who ha[s] suffered the requisite harm”
- Fac., Alumni, & Students Opposed to Racial Preferences v. Harvard Law Review, No. 1:18-cv-12105 (D. Mass. Aug. 8, 2019). “at the very least, identify a member who has suffered the requisite harm”
- Uptown Tent City Organizers v. City of Chicago Dep't of Admin. Hearings, No. 1:17-cv-04518 (N.D. Ill. June 5, 2018).Comm’n, 863 F.3d 507, 520-21 (6th Cir. 2017); Ouachita Watch League v. United States Forest Serv., 858 F.3d 539, 542-43 (8th Cir. 2017); Draper v. Healey, 827 F.3d 1, 3 (1st Cir. 2016); Swanson Grp.
- Students for Fair Admissions; I.P., by & through her next friend & mother, B.P.; & B.P. v. Trs. of the Est. of Bernice Pauahi Bishop d/b/a Kamehameha Schs., No. 1:25-cv-00450 (D. Haw. Apr. 7, 2026).(recognizing that “the Supreme Court has said that an affidavit provided by an association to establish standing in insufficient unless it names an injured individual)
- Do No Harm v. Pfizer, 96 F.4th 106 (2d Cir. 2024).published ([T]he Supreme Court has said that an affidavit provided by an association to establish standing is insufficient unless it names an injured individual.” (citing Summers, 555 U.S. at 498 ))
- Housatonic River Initiative v. U.S. Env't Prot. Agency, 75 F.4th 248 (1st Cir. 2023).published(noting that "the association must, at the very least, 'identify [a] member[] who ha[s] suffered the requisite harm.'" (alterations in original) (quoting Summers v. Earth Island Inst., 555 U.S. 488, 499 (2009)))
- Prairie Rivers Network v. Dynegy Midwest Generation, LLC, 2 F.4th 1002 (7th Cir. 2021).published See Draper v. Healey, 827 F.3d 1, 3 (1st Cir. 2016) (Souter, J., sitting by desig- nation) (“[W]hy the advocacy group would have needed formal discovery to identify which of its own members may have been injured by the regulation is a myst…
- Consum. Data Indus. Ass'n v. Frey, 495 F. Supp. 3d 10 (D. Me. 2020).published(explaining that associational standing on behalf of its members “requires, among other things, that at least one of the group’s members have standing as an individual. To satisfy this requirement, the association must,…)
- Capen v. Campbell, 134 F.4th 660 (1st Cir. 2025).publishedAnd "[t]his requirement of naming the affected members has never been dispensed with in light of statistical probabilities, but only where all the members of the organization are affected by the challenged activity." Id. at 498–99; see als…
At page 4 Determining acceptable degree of statutory vagueness8 citing cases‘Fair’ notice is understood as notice short of semantic certainty. Because words are rough-hewn tools, not surgically precise instruments, some degree of inexactitude is acceptable in statutory language.
- Paul Maravelias, Plaintiff v. Justices of the N.H. Supreme Court & Gordon J. MacDonald, Attorney Gen. of New Hampshire, Defendants, 2020 DNH 142 (D.N.H. 2020).published(‘Fair’ notice is understood as notice short of semantic certainty. Because words are rough-hewn tools, not surgically precise instruments, some degree of inexactitude is acceptable in statutory language.)
- Maravelias v. NH Supreme Court, No. 1:19-cv-00487 (D.N.H. Aug. 13, 2020).(‘Fair’ notice is understood as notice short of semantic certainty. Because words are rough-hewn tools, not surgically precise instruments, some degree of inexactitude is acceptable in statutory language.)
- Nat'l Educ. Ass'n, et al. v. P United States Dep't of Educ., et al., 2025 DNH 055 (D.N.H. 2025).publishedDraper v. Healey, 827 F.3d 1, 4 (1st Cir. 2016) (Souter, Circuit Justice) (quoting URI State Senate v. Town of Narragansett, 631 F.3d 1, 14 (1st Cir. 2011)).
- Local 8027, AFT-N.H., AFL-CIO, et al., v. Frank Edelblut, Comm'r, N.H. Dep't of Educ., et al., 2024 DNH 040 (D.N.H. 2024).publishedReasonable breadth in the terms employed by an ordinance does not require that it be invalidated on vagueness grounds.” 13 Draper v. Healey, 827 F.3d 1, 4 (Souter, Circuit Justice, 1st Cir. 2016) (cleaned up).
- Frese v. NH Attorney Gen., No. 1:18-cv-01180 (D.N.H. Oct. 25, 2019).“Because ‘words are rough-hewn tools, not surgically precise instruments[,] . . . some degree of inexactitude is acceptable in statutory language. . . . [R]easonable breadth in the terms employed by an ordinance does not…”
- Robert Frese v. Gordon J. MacDonald, In his Off. capacity only as Attorney Gen. of the State of New Hampshire, 2019 DNH 184 (D.N.H. 2019).published“Because ‘words are rough-hewn tools, not surgically precise instruments[,] . . . some degree of inexactitude is acceptable in statutory language. . . . [R]easonable breadth in the terms employed by an ordinance does not…”
- Black Emergency Response Team v. OConnor, No. 5:21-cv-01022 (W.D. Okla. June 14, 2024).(Because words are rough-hewn tools, not surgically precise instruments, some degree of inexactitude is acceptable in statutory language.” (alteration, omission, and internal quotation marks omitted))
At page 85 cited at this page1 citing case
- Glenn v. United States Dep't of Vets. Affairs, No. 2:18-cv-01162 (W.D. Wash. July 8, 2020).However, “if an employee did not at the time of the alleged discriminatory 24 action know or have reason to know that an employment decision was discriminatory in nature, 25 8 the time limits for filing an administrative complaint may be t…
Other citing cases
- Cellspin Soft, Inc. v. Fitbit LLC, No. 4:17-cv-05928 (N.D. Cal. Apr. 14, 2021).
- Fac., Alumni, & Students Opposed to Racial Preferences v. New York Univ. Law Review, No. 1:18-cv-09184 (S.D.N.Y. Mar. 31, 2020).
v.
Maura HEALEY, in Her Capacity as Attorney General of Massachusetts, Defendant, Appellee
A Massachusetts regulation makes it “an unfair or deceptive practice,” and thus a violation of state law, “for a handgun-purveyor to transfer or offer- to transfer to any customer located within the Commonwealth any handgun which does not contain a load indicator or magazine safety disconnect.” 940 Mass. Code Regs. 16.05(3). Under the state Attorney General’s regulatory definition, a “load indicator” is “a device which plainly indicates that a[*3] cartridge is in the firing chamber within the handgun.” Id. 16.01.
In response to enquiries, the Attorney General (defendant-appellee here) informed various firearms dealers and consumers that Glock, Inc.’s third and fourth generations pistols lack an adequate load indicator. Some dealers and consumers, joined by two advocacy groups, brought a pre-enforcement action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 challenging the constitutionality of the load indicator requirement as being unenforceably vague in violation of Fourteenth Amendment due process; the consumers added a complementary claim that the requirement violates the Second Amendment by preventing them from purchasing third and fourth generations Gloeks.
The district court granted the AG’s motion to dismiss under Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 12(b)(1) and (6). It determined that the two advocacy groups lacked standing and that the dealers and consumers failed to state a claim subject to relief. The dealers, consumers, and one of the advocacy groups appealed. We review the grant of the motion to dismiss de novo, Chiang v. Skeirik, 582 F.3d 238, 241 (1st Cir. 2009), and affirm.
To begin with, the advocacy group, Second Amendment Foundation, Inc., lacks standing to sue. It seeks to assert associational standing on behalf of its members, which requires, among other things, that at least one of the group’s members have standing as an individual. Town of Norwood v. F.E.R.C., 202 F.3d 392, 405-06 (1st Cir. 2000). To satisfy this requirement, the association must, at the very least, “identify [a] member[] who ha[s] suffered the requisite harm.” Summers v. Earth Island Inst., 555 U.S. 488, 499, 129 S.Ct. 1142, 173 L.Ed.2d 1 (2009); see also id. at 498, 129 S.Ct. 1142 (discussing requirement of naming one or more affected members).
Here, the complaint did not identify any member of the group whom the regulation prevented from selling or purchasing a Glock. The group submitted an affidavit asserting that many of its members asked it to take legal action challenging the regulation, but the Supreme Court has said that an affidavit provided by an association to establish standing is insufficient unless it names an injured individual. Id. at 498, 129 S.Ct. 1142.
The advocacy group says that it was premature to dismiss it from the action at the pleading stage, before discovery had commenced. But “where standing is at issue, heightened specificity is obligatory at the pleading stage.... The complainant must set forth reasonably definite factual allegations, either direct or inferential, regarding each material element needed to sustain standing.” United States v. AVX Corp., 962 F.2d 108, 115 (1st Cir. 1992). And why the advocacy group would have needed formal discovery to identify which of its own members may have been injured by the regulation is a mystery the group leaves unsolved.
We now turn to the dealers’ claim that the load indicator requirement is vague in violation of due process, a constitutional claim eligible only for as-applied, not facial, review. United States v. Zhen Zhou Wu, 711 F.3d 1, 15 (1st Cir. 2013) (“Outside the First Amendment context, we consider whether a statute is vague as applied to the particular facts at issue....” (emphasis in original) (internal quotation marks omitted)). As relevant to the dealers’ as-applied challenge here, a regulation may be void for vagueness in violation of due process if in the circumstances it “fails to provide a person of ordinary intelligence fair notice of what is prohibited.” F.C.C. v. Fox Television Sta[*4] tions, Inc., — U.S.-, 132 S.Ct. 2307, 2317, 183 L.Ed.2d 234 (2012) (internal quotation marks omitted). “Fair” notice is understood as notice short of semantic certainty. Because “words are rough-hewn tools, not surgically precise instruments[,] ... some degree of inexactitude is acceptable in statutory language. ... [Reasonable breadth in the terms employed by an ordinance does not require that it be invalidated on vagueness grounds.” URI Student Senate v. Town Of Narragansett, 631 F.3d 1, 14 (1st Cir. 2011) (citations and internal quotation marks omitted).
Here, the dealers, who were informed that the AG took the position that the Glocks violated the regulation, take aim at the phrase “plainly indicates” in the definition of load indicator: “a device which plainly indicates that a cartridge is in the firing chamber.” But this definition provides anyone of ordinary intelligence fair notice that what is required is a readily perceptible signal that a loaded gun is loaded. Indeed, the phrase “plainly indicates” offers just as much notice as others we have upheld against vagueness challenges. See, e.g., id. at 15 (ordinance prohibited any gathering that “constitutes a substantial disturbance of the quiet enjoyment of ... property in a significant segment of a neighborhood” (emphases added)); United States v. Lachman, 387 F.3d 42, 45 (1st Cir. 2004) (regulation required license for export of “specially designed ... components” of equipment used in constructing rockets (emphasis added)). And it is equally clear that the AG was on firm ground in concluding that the Glocks at issue violate the regulation. The record contains photographs of their load indicators in both the “loaded” and “unloaded” positions, and the differences, far from being “plain,” are discernable only to the careful and discriminating eye.
Perhaps it is a sense of the weakness of their position that leads the dealers to argue, in effect, that fair notice requires the Commonwealth to provide something approaching a design specification: if the Commonwealth wishes to require load indicators that “indicate plainly,” the Commonwealth ought to supply the industry with a graphic plan or blueprint. But if due process demanded any such how-to guide, swaths of the United States Code, to say nothing of state statute books, would be vulnerable. See, e.g., 21 U.S.C. § 209 (“[T]he box, bottle, or other package shall be plainly labeled with the name of the substance [and] the word ‘Poison’.... ” (emphasis added)); Kimble v. Marvel Entm’t, LLC, - U.S. -, 135 S.Ct. 2401, 2412, 192 L.Ed.2d 463 (2015) (“Congress ... intended [the Sherman Actj’s reference to ‘restraint of trade’ to have changing content, and authorized courts to oversee the term’s dynamic potential.” (some internal quotation marks omitted) (quoting 15 U.S.C. § 1 (prohibiting “[e]very contract ... in restraint of trade”))); N.Y. State Conference of Blue Cross & Blue Shield Plans v. Travelers Ins. Co., 514 U.S. 645, 655, 115 S.Ct. 1671, 131 L.Ed.2d 695 (1995) (“If ‘relate to’ [in ERISA’s pre-emption provision] were taken to extend to the furthest stretch of its indeterminacy, then for all practical purposes pre-emption would never run its course, for ‘[r]eally, universally, relations stop nowhere.’ ” (quoting 29 U.S.C. § 1144(a) (preempting state laws “insofar as they ... relate to any [ERISA] plan”), and H. James, Roderick Hudson xli (New York ed., World’s Classics 1980) (1875))).
That leaves the consumers’ Second Amendment claim, which they stipulate is “derivative” of the dealers’ claim.of a due process violation. It is not clear what a “derivative” Second Amendment claim might be, but we accept the consumers’ stipulation as conceding that dismissal of[*5] the due process claim requires dismissal of their Second Amendment claim as well. We find no such merit in the appellants’ remaining arguments as would call for extended discussion.
AFFIRMED.