Tolefree v. Cudahy, 94-2923
| Decision Date | 01 March 1995 |
| Docket Number | No. 94-2923,94-2923 |
| Citation | 49 F.3d 1243 |
| Parties | Jarvis Lee TOLEFREE, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Richard D. CUDAHY, et al., Defendants-Appellees. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit |
Jarvis Lee Tolefree (submitted), pro se.
James B. Burns, Office of U.S. Atty., Chicago, IL, for defendants-appellees.
Before POSNER, Chief Judge, and BAUER and EASTERBROOK, Circuit Judges.
Mr. Tolefree filed suit in federal district court against a federal district judge and three members of this court. Tolefree was not represented by counsel, and asked leave to proceed in forma pauperis, that is, without paying a filing fee. The handwritten complaint is not lucid, but appears to charge that an adverse decision by the defendant district judge, affirmed on appeal by a panel of this court consisting of the three defendant circuit judges, violated the constitutional rights of the plaintiff, entitling him to relief under 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1983. The suit is frivolous, not only because the bringing of a suit against judges is not a proper method of challenging their decisions, and not only because judges have absolute immunity from damages suits challenging their judicial acts, but also because the reach of section 1983 is limited to conduct under color of state law, and the defendants are federal judges. The district judge to which the suit was assigned therefore properly denied leave to proceed in forma pauperis and dismissed the suit. 28 U.S.C. Sec. 1915(d).
So far, so good. But then the judge, without any explanation, granted the plaintiff's motion for leave to proceed in forma pauperis on appeal. The appeal was duly docketed, and Tolefree has now filed an incomprehensible handwritten brief captioned "Petition to the National Labor and Relation for the Labor Board to Review and Enforce All of Tolefree Precise in All of His Files and Lawsuit and Enforce All of Tolefree Afotiri Contracts in All of His Files Reason Violation of Tolefree Civil Rights Amed Broken Contract and Other."
The appeal is frivolous, and is dismissed. Our reason for writing an opinion in this frivolous case is to remind the district judges not to grant leave to proceed in forma pauperis on appeal to plaintiffs whom they have denied leave to proceed in forma pauperis, without a statement of reasons. Johnson v. Gramley, 929 F.2d 350 (7th Cir.1991). No doubt there are cases in which it is proper to grant leave to proceed in forma pauperis on appeal even though the suit has been dismissed as frivolous and...
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