THE ROBING ROOM

Judge George Caram Steeh of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan was appointed by President William J. Clinton. What a mistake! Judge Steeh seems to be a devout Republican. He fails to give pro se litigants a fair opportunity to present their cases. Judge Steeh's motto seems to be to summarily dismiss the case of a pro se litigant as fast as possible in order to clear his statistics and in order to not have to deal with the pro se litigant. Summary dismissals are supposed to be used only when a case is frivolous or malicious or when a plaintiff clearly fails to state a claim upon which relief may be granted. Judge Steeh, in addition to dismissing a pro se litigant's case, often will deny leave to proceed on appeal in forma pauperis to the pro se litigant on the ground that no jurist would be of the opinion that any other jurist would disagree with Judge Steeh. Judge Steeh has been reversed in pro se cases several times. Yet the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit does not take action against Judge Steeh to stop this nonsense.