Sanders v. Sheahan

A provision added to the Judicial Code by the Prison Litigation Reform Act of 1996 requires the district Judge to screen prisoner complaints at the earliest opportunity and dismiss the complaint, in whole or part, if (so far as bears directly on this case) it "fails to state a claim upon which relief can be granted." 28 U.S.C. sec. 1915A(b)(1). The question, unresolved in this circuit, see Mathis v. New York Life Ins. Co., 133 F.3d 546, 547 (7th Cir. 1998), is what the standard of appellate review of such a dismissal is. In the present case, the merits of which are being decided in an unpublished order entered today, the district Judge held that the complaint indeed failed to state a claim.