Shire v. Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr.
- Laura Swain
- 1:25-cv-06943
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 4
In Justin E. Shire v. Roberts, Judge Swain ordered Shire to pay fees or submit an IFP application within 30 days.
Justin E. Shire, who must either pay $405 or submit a signed application to proceed without prepaying fees within 30 days to avoid dismissal of the action.
What happened
In Justin E. Shire v. Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr.; et al., Justin E. Shire filed a civil action without paying the required fees or submitting an application to proceed without prepaying them.
The court ordered Shire, within 30 days, either to pay $405 or submit a signed application to proceed without prepaying fees. The court said no summons would issue at that time and that the action would be dismissed if he did not comply.
Judge Laura Taylor Swain also ruled that any appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to appeal without prepaying fees. The order did not address the underlying claims.
The detailed version
- Shire v. Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. · No. 1:25-cv-06943
- Laura Swain
- Sept. 24, 2025
Background
Justin E. Shire brought the action without a lawyer. The opinion does not describe the substance of his claims. He submitted the complaint without paying the required fees and without an application to proceed without prepaying fees, commonly called an IFP application.
Order
The court explained that starting a civil action in the Southern District of New York requires either payment of a $350 filing fee and a $55 administrative fee, for a total of $405, or submission of a signed IFP application. The court ordered Shire to do one of those things within 30 days of the order. If he submits the application, it must identify docket number 1:25-CV-6943 (LTS).
The court stated that, if it grants the IFP application, Shire may proceed without prepaying fees. No summons would issue at that time. If Shire complies, the case would be processed under the Clerk’s Office procedures; if he does not comply within the allowed time, the action will be dismissed.
Appeal and disposition
The court certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that any appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith. It therefore denied IFP status for an appeal. The order directed payment of the fee or submission of an IFP application; it did not decide the underlying claims.
Read the full 4-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.