Prisoner filing fee cap
Bruce v. Samuels
In brief
The Supreme Court upheld the rule that filing-fee installments for a prisoner's separate federal cases are collected at the same time.
- Where it stands
- Decided
Decided 9-0 · January 12, 2016 · Opinion by Justice Ginsburg
- What it’s about
- Antoine Bruce argued that filing-fee deductions for multiple federal cases should be made one at a time, with total monthly payments capped at 20% of his income.
- Who it affects
- For prisoners with multiple federal cases, filing-fee installments are collected at the same time rather than one case at a time.
Summary: written with AI from the case record.
What it's about
The Supreme Court unanimously agreed with the appeals court that payments for each case are collected at the same time, not sequentially.
The federal Prison Litigation Reform Act addresses how prisoners pay court filing fees in installments.
Question presented
When a prisoner has more than one case or appeal pending in federal courts, does the Prison Litigation Reform Act cap the monthly payment to cover filing fees at 20% of the prisoner’s monthly income?
What the Court decided
Holding
Section 1915(b)(2) calls for simultaneous, not sequential, recoupment of multiple monthly installment payments. 761 F. 3d 1, affirmed.
- Result
- Affirmed
The Court's reasoning
The Court read the law to require collecting the monthly installments for multiple cases at the same time, rather than one case at a time.
The vote
What's next
The appeals court's ruling remains in place. Courts handling filing-fee payments for prisoners with multiple federal cases apply the same-time payment rule.
Documents
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Opinion added: Bruce
Sources
Primary materials plus reporting. Best-effort analysis: this explainer relies on a mix of primary materials and trusted secondary sources. Official filings and opinions remain authoritative.