Court Opinion

ID: 9468560
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 02:17:43.239533+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:40:55.444287
License: Public Domain

SNEED, Circuit Judge,
Concurring:
I concur in Judge Boochever’s opinion.
I write to underscore the fact that this case does not involve complaints filed in forma pauperis. The alleged action underlying such complaints, when frivolous or malicious, can be dismissed under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(d). Without regard to the scope of this power, it may well be that with respect to such complaints the line dividing those complaints in which jurisdiction is clearly lacking from those in which it is not so lacking will be different than that applicable to complaints in which filing fees are paid. Any such difference would arise because the ease with which complaints in forma pauperis can be filed makes it desirable that there exist a means, other than that provided by 28 U.S.C. § 1915(d), by which the district courts can avoid being inundated by complaints springing from the pen of an imaginative prisoner or other writer unrestrained by financial considerations.
I also write to indicate that the line between jurisdiction-lacking complaints and those that fail to state a claim is very often not at all bright. To illustrate, were I acting alone I very likely would permit the *1349dismissal without the issuance of summons of the complaints in Franklin v. Yamhill County, No. 80-3316, Franklin v. Armstrong, No. 80-3318, and Franklin v. Cupp, No. 80-3321. That I might draw the line slightly differently than does Judge Boochever is not important, however. The feature worth emphasizing is that however the line is drawn it tells one very little about where the line between complaints which state a cause of action and those which do not should be drawn. Properly pleading jurisdiction does not, without more, constitute properly stating a claim under federal law. A case accomplishing the former cannot properly be cited as authority for having done the latter.
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