Perkins v. Central Intelligence Agency
- Laura Swain
- 1:25-cv-04240
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 4
In Perkins v. Central Intelligence Agency, Judge Swain ordered Perkins to pay $405 or submit an application to proceed without paying upfront within 30 days.
Rodney Keith Perkins and the Central Intelligence Agency. Perkins must either pay the required fees or submit the specified application within 30 days for the action to proceed.
What happened
In Perkins v. Central Intelligence Agency, Rodney Keith Perkins brought the action without a lawyer. He submitted his complaint but did not pay the required fees or submit an application to proceed without paying fees upfront.
The court ordered Perkins, within 30 days, to either pay $405 or submit a signed application showing that he cannot afford the fees. No summons will issue yet. If he does not comply, the action will be dismissed.
Judge Laura Taylor Swain also ruled that an appeal from this order would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to appeal without paying fees. The order did not address the underlying claims.
The detailed version
- Perkins v. Central Intelligence Agency · No. 1:25-cv-04240
- Laura Swain
- May 22, 2025
Background
Rodney Keith Perkins brought this action without a lawyer against the Central Intelligence Agency. The opinion does not describe the underlying claims. Perkins submitted a complaint without paying the required filing and administrative fees and without submitting an application to proceed without prepaying those fees.
Order
The court explained that a civil action requires payment of $405, consisting of a $350 filing fee and a $55 administrative fee, unless the plaintiff submits an application to proceed without prepaying fees. The court ordered Perkins to do one of those two things within 30 days of the order. If he submits the application, it must identify docket number 25-CV-4240 (LTS). The court may allow him to proceed without prepaying fees if it grants the application.
No summons will issue at this time. If Perkins complies, the Clerk’s Office will process the case under its procedures. If he does not comply within the allowed time, the action will be dismissed.
Appeal and Scope of Ruling
The court certified that an appeal from this order would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to appeal without prepaying fees. Judge Laura Taylor Swain’s order addressed payment of fees and the application process; it did not decide the merits of Perkins’s underlying claims.
Read the full 4-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.