Protect Our Parks v. Chicago Park District

Under the public-trust doctrine, a state was not permitted to transfer rights to the lands underneath navigable waterways to private entities unless the property was to be used to promote the public interest. Illinois courts sometimes applied this doctrine to public lands that were never submerged. Jackson Park (park) was a large lakeshore park in Chicago that was never submerged. Part of the park was to become the site of the Obama Presidential Center (center). Construction of the center required changes to the park, such as the removal of mature trees. A nonprofit group, Protect Our Parks, Inc. (group) (plaintiff), sued the Chicago Park District (district) (defendant) to stop construction of the center, claiming that the center would not serve the public interest and that construction of the center amounted to a taking under federal constitutional law. The suit was brought in federal district court. The judge ruled in favor of the district on the state-law claims, granting the district’s motion for summary judgment. The group appealed. On appeal, the appellate court questioned the group’s standing to sue under Article III of the United States Constitution. Illinois state courts had held that the public’s injury from violations of the public-trust doctrine created a justiciable controversy. The group argued that these cases also created a justiciable controversy for purposes of establishing standing in federal court. Alternatively, the group argued that the injury to the park was an injury in fact to the group. The group also argued that the public’s interest in the park amounted to a property right, which was taken by construction of the center.