Radu

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 9 JOSHUA THOMAS NITKIN, Case No. 2:23-cv-01837-JDP (PC) Plaintiff, ORDER v. DENYING PLAINTIFF’S MOTION FOR

COUNSEL

D. RADU, ECF No. 27 Defendants. 15 Plaintiff is a state prisoner proceeding pro se in an action brought under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. Pending is plaintiff’s motion for counsel, ECF No. 27, which defendant opposes, ECF No. 28. Plaintiff does not have a constitutional right to appointed counsel, see Rand v. Rowland, 113 F.3d 1520, 1525 (9th Cir. 1997), and the court lacks authority to require an attorney to represent plaintiff. See Mallard v. U.S. Dist. Ct. for the S. Dist. of Iowa, 490 U.S. 296, 298 (1989). The court can request the voluntary assistance of counsel. See 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(1) (“The court may request an attorney to represent any person unable to afford counsel”); Rand, 113 F.3d at 1525. But without a means to compensate counsel, the court will seek volunteer counsel only in exceptional…