(PC) Lal v. United States of America

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 9 AZHAR LAL, No. 2:20-cv-0349 JAM DB P Plaintiff, v. ORDER UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, et al., Defendants. 15 Plaintiff is a state prisoner proceeding pro se with a civil rights action. Presently before the court is plaintiff’s motion to appoint counsel. (ECF No. 19.) In support of his motion to appoint counsel, plaintiff states that he cannot afford counsel, he is a “layman at the law who did not even complete the 7th Grade,” he has sought help from lawyers, he is diabetic, and he suffers from mental health issues. (ECF No. 19 at 1-2.) Plaintiff also argues that the issues in his case are complex because they involve matters of international law. (Id. at 8.) The United States Supreme Court has ruled that district courts lack authority to require counsel to represent indigent prisoners in § 1983 cases. Mallard v. United States Dist. Court, 490 U.S. 296, 298 (1989). In certain exceptional circumstances,…