Thurgood Marshall

“ Toward this end, § 1915 (a) allows a litigant to commence a civil or criminal action in federal court in forma pauperis by filing in good faith an affidavit stating, inter alia, that he is unable to pay the costs of the lawsuit. Congress recognized, however, that a litigant whose filing fees and court costs are assumed by the public, unlike a paying litigant, lacks an economic incentive to refrain from filing frivolous, malicious, or repetitive lawsuits. ”

“ Under Rule 12 (b) (6) , a plaintiff with an arguable claim is ordinarily accorded notice of a pending motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim and an opportunity to amend the complaint before the motion is ruled upon. [8] These procedures alert him to the legal theory underlying the defendant's challenge, and enable him meaningfully to respond by opposing the motion to dismiss on legal grounds or by clarifying his factual allegations so as to conform with the requirements of a valid legal cause of action. ”

“ Because a complaint which states no claim "must be dismissed pursuant to Rule 12 (b) (6) anyway," petitioners assert, "delay [ing] this determination until after service of process and a defendant's response only delays the inevitable." Reply Brief for Petitioners 3.
We recognize the problems in judicial administration caused by the surfeit of meritless in forma pauperis complaints in the federal courts, not the least of which is the possibility that meritorious complaints will receive inadequate attention or be difficult to identify amidst the overwhelming number of meritless complaints. ”

“ Unless there is " 'indisputably absent any factual or legal basis' " for the wrong asserted in the complaint, the trial court, " [i] n a close case," should permit the claim to proceed at least to the point where responsive pleadings are required. Ibid. (citation omitted) .
Evaluated under this frivolousness standard, the Court of Appeals held, Williams' Eighth Amendment claims against two of the defendants had been wrongly dismissed. ”

“ Section 1915 (d) has a separate function, one which molds rather differently the power to dismiss which it confers. Section 1915 (d) is designed largely to discourage the filing of, and waste of judicial and private resources upon, baseless lawsuits that paying litigants generally do not initiate because of the costs of bringing suit and because of the threat of sanctions for bringing vexatious suits under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 11. ”