(PC) Williams v. Mansour ( 2021 )

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 8 FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 9 10 MICHAEL TRAVON WILLIAMS, No. 2:20-cv-0616 DB P 11 Plaintiff, 12 v. ORDER 13 YASSER MANSOUR, et al., 14 Defendants. 15 16 Plaintiff, a state prisoner proceeding pro se with a civil rights action, has requested 17 appointment of counsel on the grounds that his jailhouse lawyer is no longer available to help 18 him, the institution where he is housed is on lockdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic, and he is 19 uneducated in the law. 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 district court may request the 23 voluntary assistance of counsel pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(1). Terrell v. Brewer, 935 F.2d 24 1015, 1017 (9th Cir. 1991); Wood v. Housewright, 900 F.2d 1332, 1335-36 (9th Cir. 1990). 25 The test for exceptional circumstances requires the court to evaluate the plaintiff’s 26 likelihood of success on the merits and the ability of the plaintiff to articulate his claims pro se in 27 light of the complexity of the legal issues involved. See Wilborn v. Escalderon, 789 F.2d 1328, 28 1331 (9th Cir. 1986); Weygandt v. Look, 718 F.2d 952, 954 (9th Cir. 1983). Circumstances 1 | common to most prisoners, such as lack of legal education and limited law library access, do not 2 | establish exceptional circumstances that would warrant a request for voluntary assistance of 3 | counsel. In the present case, the court does not find the required exceptional circumstances. 4 Accordingly, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that plaintiff's motion for the appointment of 5 || counsel (ECF No. 12) is denied. 6 | Dated: March 15, 2021 7 8 9 ORAH BARNES /DLBT: UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE 10 | □□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□ 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28