Page:Theodore H. Frank, et al. v. Paloma Gaos, individually and on behalf of all others similarly situated, et al..pdf/5

Rh and in Edwards, that “a plaintiff automatically satisfies the injury-in-fact requirement whenever a statute grants a person a statutory right and purports to authorize that person to sue to vindicate that right.” 578 U. S., at ___ (slip op., at 9); see also id., at ___ (slip op., at 5). Google notified the Ninth Circuit of our opinion.

A divided panel of the Ninth Circuit affirmed, without addressing Spokeo. In re Google Referrer Header Privacy Litigation, 869 F. 3d 737 (2017). We granted certiorari, 584 U. S. ___ (2018), to decide whether a class action settlement that provides a cy pres award but no direct relief to class members satisfies the requirement that a settlement binding class members be “fair, reasonable, and adequate.” Fed. Rule Civ. Proc. 23(e)(2).

In briefing on the merits before this Court, the Solicitor General filed a brief as amicus curiae supporting neither party. He urged us to vacate and remand the case for the lower courts to address standing. The Government argued that there is a substantial open question about whether any named plaintiff in the class action actually had standing in the District Court. Because Google withdrew its standing challenge after we dismissed Edwards as improvidently granted, neither the District Court nor the Ninth Circuit ever opined on whether any named plaintiff sufficiently alleged standing in the operative complaint.

“We have an obligation to assure ourselves of litigants’ standing under Article III.” DaimlerChrysler Corp. v. Cuno, 547 U. S. 332, 340 (2006) (quoting Friends of the Earth, Inc. v. Laidlaw Environmental Services (TOC), Inc., 528 U. S. 167, 180 (2000); internal quotation marks omitted). That obligation extends to court approval of proposed class action settlements. In ordinary non-class litigation, parties are free to settle their disputes on their own terms, and plaintiffs may voluntarily dismiss their claims without a court order. Fed. Rule Civ. Proc. 41(a)(1)(A). By contrast, in a class action, the “claims,