Haxhaj v. United States
- Laura Swain
- 1:25-cv-04333
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 4
In Haxhaj v. United States, Judge Swain ordered the pro se petitioner to pay $5 or submit an IFP application within 30 days, or the case will be dismissed.
The order affects Kimete Haxhaj’s petition on behalf of Shpendim Haxhaj by requiring payment of the filing fee or submission of an IFP application before the case proceeds.
What happened
In Haxhaj v. United States, Kimete Haxhaj, on behalf of Shpendim Haxhaj, filed a petition asking for habeas relief. The petitioner did not pay the required filing fee or submit an application to proceed without prepaying fees.
The court ordered the petitioner, within 30 days, to either pay the $5 filing fee or submit a signed application showing an inability to pay. No response from the United States was required at this stage. The order says the case will be dismissed if the petitioner does not comply.
Judge Laura Taylor Swain also ruled that any appeal from this order would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to appeal without prepaying fees. The order did not decide the petition’s underlying claims.
The detailed version
- Haxhaj v. United States · No. 1:25-cv-04333
- Laura Swain
- May 23, 2025
Background
Kimete Haxhaj, identified in the caption as acting on behalf of Shpendim Haxhaj, filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus against the United States of America. The petitioner was proceeding without a lawyer. The petition was submitted without the required $5 filing fee and without an application to proceed without prepaying fees, commonly called an IFP application.
Court’s order
The court directed the petitioner to do one of two things within 30 days of the order: pay the $5 filing fee or complete and submit the attached IFP application. The court explained that, if it grants the application, the petitioner may proceed without paying the filing fee in advance. The application requests information about the applicant’s income, assets, expenses, dependents, and debts.
The court stated that no answer from the United States was required at that time. If the petitioner complies, the case will be processed under the Clerk’s Office procedures. If the petitioner does not comply within the allowed time, the action will be dismissed.
Disposition
The court ordered payment of the filing fee or submission of an IFP application; it did not rule on the merits of the habeas petition. Under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3), Judge Laura Taylor Swain certified that an appeal from this order would not be taken in good faith and denied IFP status for purposes of an appeal.
Read the full 4-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.