Lomax v. Ortiz-marquez
U.S. Supreme Court · decided June 8, 2020 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Decided
- June 8, 2020
- Term
- October Term 2019
- Vote
- 9–0
- Majority author
- Justice Kagan
- Issue area
- Civil Rights
- Disposition
- Affirmed
- Outcome
- Petitioning party lost
- Ideological direction
- Conservative
Opinion excerpt
Justice KAGAN delivered the opinion of the Court. To help staunch a "flood of nonmeritorious" prisoner litigation, the Prison Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (PLRA) established what has become known as the three-strikes rule. Jones v. Bock , 549 U.S. 199, 203, 127 S.Ct. 910, 166 L.Ed.2d 798 (2007). That rule generally prevents a prisoner from bringing suit in forma pauperis (IFP)-that is, without first paying the filing fee-if he has had three or more prior suits "dismissed on the grounds that [they were] frivolous, malicious, or fail[ed] to state a claim upon which relief may be granted." 28 U.S.C. § 1915(g). Today we address whether a suit dismissed for failure to state a claim counts as a strike when the dismissal was without prejudice. We conclude that it does: The text of Section 1915(g) 's three-strikes provision refers to any dismissal for failure to state a claim, whether with prejudice or without. I Petitioner Arthur Lomax is an inmate in a Colorado prison. He filed this suit against respondent prison officials to challenge his expulsion from the facility's sex-offender treatment program. As is common in prison litigation, he also moved for IFP status to allow his suit to go forward before he pays the $400 filing fee. For that motion to succeed, Lomax must avoid Section 1915(g). That provision bars further IFP litigation once a prisoner has had at least three prior…
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