Covello

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 JAMES NEMETH, No. 2:23-cv-2572 CKD P 12 Plaintiff, 13 v. ORDER 14 PATRICK COVELLO, et al., 15 Defendants. 16 17 Plaintiff is a state prisoner proceeding pro se in this civil rights action filed pursuant to 42 18 U.S.C. § 1983. This proceeding was referred to this court by Local Rule 302 pursuant to 28 19 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1). 20 I. Motion for the Appointment of Counsel 21 Plaintiff has requested the appointment of counsel. ECF No. 6. District courts lack 22 authority to require counsel to represent indigent prisoners in section 1983 cases. Mallard v. 23 United States Dist. Court, 490 U.S. 296, 298 (1989). In exceptional circumstances, the court may 24 request an attorney to voluntarily represent such a plaintiff. See 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(1); Terrell 25 v. Brewer, 935 F.2d 1015, 1017 (9th Cir. 1991); Wood v. Housewright, 900 F.2d 1332, 1335-36 26 (9th Cir. 1990). When determining whether “exceptional circumstances” exist, the court must 27 …