Lockhart v. United States

376 F.3d 1027 James LOCKHART, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. UNITED STATES of America; John Ashcroft, Attorney General; Roderick R. Paige, as Secretary of the United States Department of Education; Paul O'Neill, United States Department of the Treasury, Defendants-Appellees. No. 02-35759. United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit. Argued and Submitted November 3, 2003. Filed July 23, 2004. Willie Jordan-Curtis, Jill Sosin, Christopher Scott Jones, Nicole Bunker-Henderson, Ross W. Henderson, The University of Arizona College of Law Pro Bono Appellate Project, Tucson, AZ, for the plaintiff-appellant. Phillip H. Lynch, Assistant United States Attorney, Tacoma, WA, for the defendants-appellees. Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington; John C. Coughenour, Chief Judge, Presiding. D.C. No. CV-02-00640-JCC. Before: NOONAN, WARDLAW, and PAEZ, Circuit Judges. NOONAN, Circuit Judge: 1 James Lockhart appeals the dismissal of his complaint by the district court for lack of subject matter jurisdiction and for failure to state a claim for which relief can be granted. We construe Lockhart's pro se pleading liberally and hold that he has asserted a basis…