Publication Date
Fall 9-1-2024
Abstract
Two Latin phrases describing litigants—pro se (for oneself) and in forma pauperis (IFP, as a poor person)—prompt this inquiry into the relationship between self-representation and requests for filing fee waivers. We sketch the governing legal principles for people seeking relief in the federal courts, the sources of income of the federal judiciary, the differing regimes to which Congress has subjected incarcerated and nonincarcerated people filing civil lawsuits, and analyses enabled by SCALES, a newly available database that coded 2016 and 2017 federal court docket sheets. This Essay’s account of what can be learned and of the data gaps demonstrates the challenges of capturing activities in federal lawsuits and the burdens, unfairness, and inefficiencies of current federal court waiver practices.
Recommended Citation
Judith Resnik, Henry Wu, Jenn Dikler, David T. Wong, Romina Lilollari, Claire Stobb, Elizabeth Beling, Avital Fried, Anna Selbrede, Jack Sollows, Mikael Tessema, and Julia Udell,
Lawyerless Litigants, Filing Fees, Transaction Costs, and the Federal Courts: Learning from SCALES,
119
Nw. U. L. Rev.
109
(2024).
https://scholarlycommons.law.northwestern.edu/nulr/vol119/iss1/5
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