McHenry

The district judge dismissed plaintiffs’ complaint under Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 8, 12, and 41 because it did not contain a short and plain statement of their claims for relief, did not give defendants a fair opportunity to frame a responsive pleading, and did not give the court a clear statement of claims. The district court had given plaintiffs three opportunities to amend the complaint in accord with the judge’s instructions, but the third amended complaint restated the prior ones without curing their deficiencies. We affirm.

FACTS

We take the facts from plaintiffs’ third amended complaint as best we can. Because it is fifty-three pages long, and mixes allegations of relevant facts, irrelevant facts, political argument, and legal argument in a confusing way, we cannot be sure that we have correctly understood all the averments. If we have not, plaintiffs have only themselves to blame.

According to the complaint, plaintiff McHenry made it a practice to give out free food and political literature in city parks. The Mayor, City Attorney, Chief of Police, and other public officials and police officers in San Francisco conspired to harass McHen-ry with unreasonable…