Coppedge v. United States

Tried and convicted in a Federal District Court for an offense against the United States, petitioner applied for leave to appeal his conviction to the Court of Appeals in forma pauperis. His application was denied. The case presents this question: What standard is to be applied by the lower federal courts in passing upon such applications? The articulation of a usable standard has been the source of considerable recent litigation.1 And, while *441we recognize that no single word or group of words can provide a precise formula that will dispose of every case, we think it appropriate to indicate in…