Sandego.net – The question of whether an American citizen can walk into a federal courtroom and say, “I want to look at a crocodile,” as a basis for suing over government action has haunted the Supreme Court since the early 1990s. Now, thanks to a narrow 5-4 ruling handed down last week, that question has acquired a very different answer when the object of the gaze is not an endangered reptile in Egypt but the neoclassical façade of the White House itself.

Five conservative justices, over the objection of Chief Justice John Roberts and the court’s three liberal members, barred a historic preservationist from challenging the construction of a $400 million ballroom on the White House grounds. The unsigned decision, issued Monday, effectively told the plaintiff that aesthetic displeasure with a new structure does not constitute the kind of concrete, particularized injury required to bring a federal lawsuit.…