Court Opinion

ID: 9527084
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 03:27:12.360663+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:25:31.737535
License: Public Domain

Justice Stevens,
with whom Justice Blackmun joins,
dissenting.
During my years of service on the Court, I have not detected any threat to the integrity of its processes, or its ability to administer justice fairly, caused by frivolous petitions, whether filed by paupers or by affluent litigants. Three years ago I expressed the opinion that the cost of administering sanctions such as that imposed on this petitioner would exceed any perceptible administrative benefit. In re Amendment to Rule 39, 500 U. S. 13, 15 (1991). Any minimal savings in time or photocopying costs, it seemed to me, did not justify the damage that occasional orders denying in forma pauperis status would cause to “the symbolic interest in preserving equal access to the Court for both the rich and the poor.” Ibid. Three years’ experience under this Court’s Rule 39.8 leaves me convinced that the dissenters in the cases the Court cites had it right. See In re Demos, 500 U. S. 16, 17-19 (1991); In re Sindram, 498 U. S. 177, 180-183 *367(1991); In re McDonald, 489 U. S. 180, 185-188 (1989). See also Day v. Day, 510 U. S. 1, 3 (1993) (Stevens, J., dissenting). Again I respectfully dissent.