Arviso

MEMORANDUM *

Plaintiffs appeal the district court’s order vacating a judgment entered on the basis of a settlement between Plaintiffs and Defendants, the Secretary of the Interior and officials of the Bureau of Indian Affairs (“BIA”). In their suit, Plaintiffs allege that seventy-two people (“Calac descendants”) who are not eligible for membership in the Rincon Band of San Luiseño Indians (“Band”) are nonetheless enrolled members because of the improper actions and omissions of BIA officials. The district court dismissed the Plaintiffs’ suit after it concluded that the Band was a necessary and indispensable party. We agree with the district court that the Band is an indispensable party and that it was proper to dismiss the suit on this ground. Nevertheless, we do not reach that issue because we conclude that the Plaintiffs suit suffers from a more fundamental defect that deprives this court of jurisdiction.

Although the issue of Plaintiffs’ standing was not raised in district court, standing is a jurisdictional issue that we may consider for the first time on appeal. See Pritikin v. Dep’t of Energy, 254 F.3d 791 , 796 (9th Cir.2001). Standing is a threshold requirement, without…