Andre Lee Coleman, Aka Andre Lee Coleman-Bey, Petitioner v. Todd Tollefson Andre Lee Coleman, Aka Andre Lee…

Summary

The Supreme Court held that, under the Prison Litigation Reform Act's 'three strikes' provision, 28 U.S.C. § 1915(g), a prior dismissal on a statutorily enumerated ground counts as a strike even if the dismissal is pending on appeal when the prisoner files a new action. Applying the statute's literal text—an action 'was dismissed' on a 'prior occasion'—together with ordinary rules that trial-court judgments take effect despite pending appeals and the provision's purpose of filtering out bad claims, the Court concluded that André Coleman, who had accumulated three qualifying dismissals, could not proceed in forma pauperis in his four subsequently filed suits. The Court expressly declined to decide whether a prisoner may proceed in forma pauperis on an appeal from a third qualifying dismissal itself. The judgments of the Court of Appeals were affirmed.