Cornett

This is a review of a declaratory judgment in which the district court concluded that the constitutional right of access to the courts requires a state to provide legal assistance only through the pleading stage of a habeas corpus or civil rights action. The issue on appeal is whether the constitutional .right of access to the courts requires a state to provide legal assistance beyond the pleading stage. We conclude that it does not.

The Supreme Court cases discussing the constitutional right of access indicate that a state need only provide assistance through the pleading stage. The right of access is designed to ensure that a habeas corpus petition or a civil rights complaint of a person in state custody will reach a court for consideration. Thereafter, the court has the discretion to request that counsel represent indigent persons when the circumstances so warrant. We affirm the judgment of the district court on the scope of the right of access.

The plaintiffs in this case, Susan Cornett, Katherine Jensen, John Henry and Timothy Hiser, are either present or former patients at Idaho State Hospital South, (“SHS”) a public institution for the mentally ill owned and operated by…