Supreme Court sees dramatic decline in appeals from indigent, poor litigants
Appeals from indigent or poor litigants have decreased precipitously at the U.S. Supreme Court over the past several terms and are now at their lowest level in the 21st century. (Photo by Allison Robbert/The Washington Post)
Appeals from indigent or poor litigants have decreased precipitously at the U.S. Supreme Court over the past several terms and are now at their lowest level in the 21st century, the National Law Journal reports.
In what is described as a dramatic decline, a large pool of cases at the Supreme Court has been drying up in recent years, and experts aren’t sure why, according to the story.
The high court received about 2,500 appeals from indigent petitioners during its most recent term. That’s just under half of the number of indigent appeals from six years ago, and about one-third of the number filed two decades ago, according to Supreme Court data.
In a recent study, political scientists drew attention to this unexplained decrease in indigent filings, noting that it was “much starker” than a corresponding decrease in filings from paying petitioners.
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