Zatko v. California

Last Term, we amended Rule 39 of the Rules of the Supreme Court of the United States to add the following:

“39.8. If satisfied that a petition for a writ of certiorari, jurisdictional statement, or petition for an extraordinary-writ, as the case may be, is frivolous or malicious, the Court may deny a motion for leave to proceed in forma pauperis.”

Because in forma pauperis petitioners lack the financial disincentives — filing fees and attorney’s fees — that help to *17deter other litigants from filing frivolous petitions, we felt such a Rule change was necessary to provide us some control over the…