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1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 ISRAEL RIOS, Case No. 2:20-cv-00146-ADA-HBK (PC) 12 Plaintiff,

ORDER REAPPOINTING COUNSEL

13 v.

14 NP JOSEPH DRAGON, ET. AL., 15 Defendants. 16 17 Plaintiff, a prisoner proceeds on his First Amended Complaint as screened. (Doc. Nos. 18 46, 63). A related action remains pending in case number 1:19-cv-01009-ADA-HBK (E.D. Cal. 19 2019) (“first filed case”). In the first filed case, Plaintiff had filed objections to a findings and 20 recommendations, which the Court construed to include a motion to appoint counsel in the first 21 filed case and indicated that the Court may have mistakenly relieved previously appointed 22 counsel in the instant action.1 (See Case No. 1:19-cv-01009-ADA-HBK, Doc. Nos. 33, 37). 23 While the United States Constitution does not require the appointment of counsel in a civil 24 case, motions to appoint counsel may be granted when “exceptional circumstances” exist. See 25 Lewis v. Casey, 518 U.S. 343, 354 (1996) (explaining Bounds v. Smith, 430…