Rahul Dev Manchanda v. Douglas Senderoff, et al.

Whether a court of appeals may dismiss a civil rights appeal sua sponte as “frivolous,” without briefing or adversarial testing, in conflict with Neitzke v. Williams, 490 U.S. 319 (1989). Whether sanctions threats and procedural hostility toward a civil rights litigant constitute retaliation that chills protected petitioning activity, in conflict with NAACP v. Button, 371 U.S. 415 (1963). Whether a Court of Appeals may refuse to accept judicial misconduct complaints under 28 U.S.C. §§ 351-364, thereby nullifying Congress’s statutory oversight scheme and violating the First Amendment, the right of access to courts, and the separation of powers. Whether abstention doctrines—including Younger and the discretionary function exception—may be invoked sua sponte to bar constitutional claims without the procedural safeguards required by Mathews v. Eldridge, 424 U.S. 319 (1976). Whether indefinite withholding of rulings on pending motions constitutes denial of access to courts, contrary to Bounds v. Smith, 430 U.S. 817 (1977). Whether a court of appeals may impose a sanctions based filing bar not authorized by statute or rule, thereby creating a new jurisdictional barrier to appellate review. Whether the cumulative pattern across multiple federal and state proceedings demonstrates systemic constitutional suppression warranting this Court’s intervention.