(PC) Morrison v. Vierra ( 2021 )

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 CURTIS LEE MORRISON, No. 2:20-cv-1924 DB P 12 Plaintiff, 13 v. ORDER 14 E. VIERRA, 15 Defendant. 16 17 Plaintiff has requested the appointment of counsel. (ECF No. 3). In support of the 18 motion, plaintiff states that he is not a lawyer and that ultimately, he needs one to help him 19 properly present his job discrimination claims to the court. (See id. at 2). 20 The United States Supreme Court has ruled that district courts lack authority to require 21 counsel to represent indigent prisoners in § 1983 cases. Mallard v. United States Dist. Court, 490 22 U.S. 296, 298 (1989). In certain exceptional circumstances, the court may request the voluntary 23 assistance of counsel pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(1). Terrell v. Brewer, 935 F.2d 1015, 1017 24 (9th Cir. 1991); Wood v. Housewright, 900 F.2d 1332, 1335-36 (9th Cir. 1990). In the present 25 case, the court does not find the required exceptional circumstances. Plaintiff’s request for the 26 appointment of counsel will therefore be denied. 27 //// 28 //// 1 Accordingly, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that plaintiffs request for the appointment of 2 | counsel (ECF No. 3) is DENIED. 3 | Dated: January 4, 2021 4 5 6 ORAH BARNES UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE 7 8 | piB:13 DB/ORDERS/ORDERS.PRISONER.CIVIL RIGHTS/morr1924.31 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28