[The] rather small group of “fixated” or “obsessed” pro se litigants clearly raises far trickier problems in docket management and courtroom control and fairness than the everyday self-represented litigant, who appears in courthouses across the nation in tens of thousands of lawsuits each year. The typical pro se litigant has neither the time nor the capacity to manipulate the court with selective presentation of the law based on extensive research and deep knowledge of the issues.

Americans have the right to represent themselves in court and to have fair access to justice — otherwise, we would truly be overlawyered and subjected to a lawyer tax on justice. The NYT article did not help the public understand the important issue that it raised: “how far to ease the rules [of procedure] to help the self-represented while remaining fair to the party with counsel.” My posting lists some materials that present the topic far more usefully.