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S.D.N.Y.Procedural orderFiled June 24, 2025

Wallace v. United States Constitution

Judge
Laura Swain
Docket
1:25-cv-04980
Court
U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
Pages
2
Civil ProcedurePro Se
In one sentence

In Wallace v. United States Constitution, Judge Swain dismissed the action without prejudice for violating a prior filing bar.

Who this affects

Kenyetta Wallace, who filed the action without a lawyer, and any attempted appeal of the dismissal.

What happened

Wallace v. United States Constitution concerned a new case filed by Kenyetta Wallace, who used two other names and was representing herself. She requested permission to proceed without paying the filing fee.

The court said a 2018 order barred Wallace from filing new civil actions in that court without first getting permission to file when seeking that fee waiver. Wallace had not requested that permission. The court therefore dismissed the action without deciding the underlying claims.

Judge Swain entered judgment and certified that an appeal would not be taken in good faith, denying fee-waiver status for any appeal.

The detailed version

For law students, journalists, and other readers who want the full reasoning

Case
Wallace v. United States Constitution · No. 1:25-cv-04980
Judge
Laura Swain
Date
June 24, 2025

Background

Kenyetta Wallace filed this case representing herself. The opinion says she also filed under the names “Heiress Kenyatta T. Zepporah Reign” and “Heiress Kenyatta T. Zepporak Reign,” and had previously filed multiple frivolous actions in the court. She sought permission to proceed without paying the filing fee.

Prior filing restriction

The court relied on a 2018 order in a prior related proceeding. That order barred Wallace from filing any new civil action in the Southern District of New York without first obtaining the court’s permission to file when seeking to proceed without paying the filing fee. The opinion states that Wallace did not seek that permission before filing this case.

Ruling

The court dismissed the action without prejudice because Wallace failed to comply with the 2018 filing restriction. The order did not decide the merits of the claims. The court also certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that any appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to proceed without paying the filing fee for an appeal. The Clerk of Court was directed to enter judgment. Judge Laura Taylor Swain signed the order on June 24, 2025.

The authoritative version

Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.

Open opinion PDF →
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