zone of interests

The zone of interests is a legal concept used to determine whether a particular plaintiff has standing to bring a lawsuit . It refers to the range of interests or concerns that a law or regulation , whether a constitutional provision or legislative statute , is intended to protect. For a plaintiff to have standing , their interests must fall within this range. When challenging a state action based on a law, the plaintiff’s injury must fall under the zone of interests protected by that law.

See , e.g., Bennett v. Spear, 520 U.S. 154 (1997) .