US SUPREME COURT DECISIONS

MARTIN v. DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA COURT OF APPEALS ET AL. 506 U.S. 1

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CASES ADJUDGED

IN THE

SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES

AT

OCTOBER TERM, 1992

Syllabus

MARTIN v. DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA COURT OF APPEALS ET AL.

ON MOTION OF PETITIONER FOR LEAVE TO PROCEED IN FORMA PAUPERIS

No. 92-5584. Decided November 2,1992*

Since this Court's Rule 39.8 was invoked in November 1991 to first deny pro se petitioner Martin in forma pauperis status, he has filed 11 petitions for certiorari, all but one of which have been demonstrably frivolous.

Held: Martin is denied leave to proceed in forma pauperis in the instant cases, and the Clerk is directed not to accept any further petitions for certiorari from him in noncriminal matters unless he pays the required docketing fee and submits his petition in compliance with this Court's Rule 33. Martin is a notorious abuser of the Court's certiorari process, and consideration of his repetitious and frivolous petitions does not allow the Court to allocate its resources in a way that promotes the interests of justice.

Motions denied.

PER CURIAM.

Pro se petitioner James L. Martin requests leave to proceed in forma pauperis under Rule 39 of this Court. We deny this request pursuant to our Rule 39.8. Martin is al-

*Together with No. 92-5618, Martin v. McDermott et al., also on motion of petitioner for leave to proceed in forma pauperis.cralawred


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2 MARTIN v. DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA COURT OF APPEALS

Per Curiam

lowed until November 23, 1992, within which to pay the docketing fees required by Rule 38 and to submit his petitions in compliance with this Court's Rule 33. We also direct the Clerk not to accept any further petitions for certiorari from Martin in noncriminal matters unless he pays the docketing fee required by Rule 38 and submits his petition in compliance with Rule 33.

Martin is a notorious abuser of this Court's certiorari process. We first invoked Rule 39.8 to deny Martin in forma pauperis status last November. See Zatko v. California, 502 U. S. 16 (1991) (per curiam). At that time, we noted that Martin had filed 45 petitions in the past 10 years, and 15 in the preceding 2 years alone. Although Martin was granted in forma pauperis status to file these petitions, all of these petitions were denied without recorded dissent. In invoking Rule 39.8, we observed that Martin is "unique-not merely among those who seek to file in forma pauperis, but also among those who have paid the required filing feesbecause [he has] repeatedly made totally frivolous demands on the Court's limited resources." Id., at 18. Unfortunately, Martin has continued in his accustomed ways.

Since we first denied him in forma pauperis status last year, he has filed nine petitions for certiorari with this Court. We denied Martin leave to proceed in forma pauperis under Rule 39.8 of this Court with respect to four of these petitions,l and denied the remaining five petitions outright.2 Two additional petitions for certiorari are before us today, bringing the total number of petitions Martin has filed in the

1 Martin v. Smith, post, p. 810; Martin v. Delaware, post, p. 810; Martin v. Sparks, post, p. 810; Martin v. Delaware, 505 U. S. 1203 (1992).

2 Martin v. Delaware Law School of Widener Univ., Inc., post, p. 841; Martin v. Delaware, post, p. 886; Martin v. Knox, 502 U. S. 999 (1991); Martin v. Knox, 502 U. S. 1015 (1991); Martin v. Medical Center of Delaware, 502 U. S. 991 (1991).cralawred


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Full Text of Opinion


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