What happened
The U.S. Supreme Court declined to review a Ninth Circuit ruling that required three indigent prisoners who sued together to each pay the full $350 filing fee, drawing a dissent from Justice Sonia Sotomayor joined by Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson.
Justice Sotomayor said the case asked whether federal law lets the poorest prisoners split a federal lawsuit's filing fee when other litigants may do so, and she wrote that the answer appeared to be yes. The Ninth Circuit's decision, she said, "deepened a split among the Courts of Appeals" over how the Prison Litigation Reform Act applies when multiple indigent prisoners file one civil action.
The dispute arose from allegations by prisoners at High Desert State Prison in California, who said corrections officers forced them to stand for nearly nine hours in filthy 2.5-foot-by-2.5-foot cages with their hands cuffed behind their backs. They sued jointly and sought leave to proceed in forma pauperis, saying they had no money in their accounts and no income.
The district court severed the prisoners' claims after concluding that each plaintiff had to file his own lawsuit and pay the full $350 fee to proceed in forma pauperis. The Ninth Circuit reversed the severance decision but held that the three plaintiffs could proceed in one suit only if each paid $350.
Justice Sotomayor wrote that the Ninth Circuit's view aligned with the Third, Seventh and Eleventh circuits, while the Sixth Circuit permits indigent prisoners to split fees. Justice Elena Kagan would have granted certiorari, according to the order.
In dissent, Justice Sotomayor said the Ninth Circuit likely erred because courts may not collect more than a single filing fee for the whole case under the relevant statutes. She said the contrary rule leaves the poorest prisoners paying more than non-indigent prisoners who can sue together and split the ordinary filing fee.
The dissent said the issue recurs in federal court and cited petitioners' estimate that courts denied fee splitting at least 84 times in a 12-month span. Justice Sotomayor said the full $350 fee can require prisoners earning between 13 cents and $1.30 per hour to work hundreds or thousands of hours, making it harder for indigent prisoners to pursue claims over prison conditions and alleged mistreatment.