Tasha Chapman v. Columbus Metropolitan Housing Authority, et al.

Whether a district court's order granting in forma pauperis status under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a) while simultaneously requiring payment of the full filing fee constitutes a constructive denial of access to courts in violation of the statute's textual mandate and the Fifth Amendment's Due Process Clause.

Whether an appellate court may dismiss an indigent litigant's appeal for "failure to prosecute" under Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 42(b) when the record demonstrates that the inability to perfect the appeal stems from poverty rather than abandonment of the action, and where the district court's IFP order nullified the very access it purported to grant.

Whether escalating appellate fee demands—from $405 to $605 without statutory authorization, explanation, or opportunity to be heard—violate the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments' guarantee of equal protection by imposing wealth-based barriers to judicial access.