Frost v. Trump

Background

Vinton P. Frost brought this action without a lawyer. The court had granted Frost permission to proceed without prepaying filing fees, a status commonly called proceeding without fees. Frost alleged that Donald J. Trump, Sr., identified in the caption as sued in his official capacity, interfered with Frost’s attempts to retrieve documents from various federal agencies. Frost sought an apology from Trump.

The court noted that Frost had filed a substantially similar complaint in an earlier round of this case, docket number 22-CV-6126. The court had dismissed that earlier action as barred by sovereign immunity, the legal protection that generally prevents lawsuits against the government or its officials in certain circumstances. The court had also ordered Frost to explain why he should not be barred from filing additional cases without paying fees unless the court gave permission. The opinion states that Frost had not responded to that order.

Ruling

The court dismissed all claims in this action for the same reasons given in the earlier order. Specifically, it dismissed the complaint as barred by sovereign immunity under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(2)(B)(iii). This was a threshold ruling and did not decide the underlying allegations about access to federal-agency documents.

The court certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that an appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied Frost permission to proceed without prepaying fees for an appeal. It directed the Clerk of Court to terminate the motions at ECF 7, 8, 11, and 12, and to issue judgment. The court stated that the pending order about future fee-free filings would be addressed in the earlier case.

Judge

Judge Laura Taylor Swain, Chief United States District Judge, signed the order on October 4, 2022.