Ullery

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 ANTHONY DEWAYNE LEE TURNER, No. 2:22-cv-0002 TLN KJN P 12 Plaintiff, 13 v. ORDER 14 MICHAEL ULLERY, et al., 15 Defendants. 16 17 Plaintiff is a former state prisoner, proceeding pro se, in an action brought under 42 18 U.S.C. § 1983. Plaintiff requests that the court appoint counsel. 19 District courts lack authority to require counsel to represent indigent prisoners in section 20 1983 cases. Mallard v. United States Dist. Court, 490 U.S. 296, 298 (1989). In exceptional 21 circumstances, the court may request an attorney to voluntarily represent such a plaintiff. See 28 22 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(1). Terrell v. Brewer, 935 F.2d 1015, 1017 (9th Cir. 1991); Wood v. 23 Housewright, 900 F.2d 1332, 1335-36 (9th Cir. 1990). When determining whether “exceptional 24 circumstances” exist, the court must consider plaintiff’s likelihood of success on the merits as 25 well as the ability of the plaintiff to articulate his claims pro se in light of the complexity of the 26 legal…