Lomax v. Ortiz-Marquez

Lomax v. Ortiz-Marquez
Supreme Court of the United States
Argued February 26, 2020 Decided June 8, 2020
Full case name	Arthur James Lomax v. Christina Ortiz-Marquez; Natasha Kindred; Danny Dennis; Mary Quintana
Docket no.	18-8369
Citations	590 U.S. ___ (more)
Argument	Oral argument
Case history
Prior	Case No. 17-1016, (D.C. No. 1:16-CV-02833-LTB) (D.Colo.), Case No. 18-1250, (D.C. No. 1:18-CV-00321-GPG-LTB) (D. Colorado)
Holding
In regards to prisoners filing to proceed in forma pauperis, cases dismissed without prejudice for failure to state a claim count as "strikes" in the "three strike system" under 28 U.S.C § 1915(g), which bars prisoners from requesting waiver of fees after three cases of frivolous nature or if they fail to state a claim.
Court membership
Chief Justice John Roberts Associate Justices Clarence Thomas · Ruth Bader Ginsburg Stephen Breyer · Samuel Alito Sonia Sotomayor · Elena Kagan Neil Gorsuch · Brett Kavanaugh
Case opinion
Majority	Kagan, joined by Roberts, Ginsburg, Breyer, Alito, Sotomayor, Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, Thomas (in all but Footnote 4)
Laws applied
Prison Litigation Reform Act

Arthur James Lomax v. Christina Ortiz-Marquez et al., 590 U.S. ___ (2020) was a Supreme Court case in which the court held that in situations and proceedings in which a prisoner is filing to proceed In forma pauperis, as it pertains to the "3 strikes" system set out in 28 U.S.C. § 1915(g), a dismissal without prejudice counts for failure to state a claim counts as a "strike. The court held this in a unanimous decision, although interestingly Justice Thomas joined the majority in all but Footnote 4^[1] of the opinion.