Tamique v. Richardson

Filing 7

MEMORANDUM Order. Signed by the Honorable Milton I. Shadur on 7/29/2015.Mailed notice(rm, )

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF ILLINOIS
EASTERN DIVISION
ASHILI TAMIQUE,
Plaintiff,
v.
SYBIL RICHARDSON, a.k.a.
JASMINE RANKIN,
Defendant.

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Case No. 15 C 6495

MEMORANDUM ORDER
Ashili Tamique ("Tamique") has used (or more accurately misused) the form of
Complaint for Violation of Constitutional Rights, made available by the Clerk's Office to be
utilized by pro se plaintiffs, to sue Sybil Richardson ("Richardson") for what Tamique describes
in Complaint ¶ 6 as "Libel per se slander and defamation per se cyber bullying, cyber stalking,
transmission of obscene msgs. intent to harm." None of those labels, even if accurate (as this
Court will assume for present purposes), advances any contention that qualifies as a "violation of
plaintiff's civil rights as protected by the Constitution and laws of the United States under 42
U.S.C. §§ 1983, 1985, and 1986," as Complaint ¶ 1 requires.
So Tamique must look elsewhere for a ticket of entry to the federal courthouse. And that
calls for the threshold inquiry that this Court must make as succinctly described in Wis. Knife
Works v. Nat'l Metal Crafters, 781 F.2d 1280, 1282 (7th Cir. 1986):
The first thing a federal judge should do when a complaint is filed is check to see
that federal jurisdiction is properly alleged.

Because Tamique has not satisfied that "properly alleged" requirement, both the Complaint and
this action must be and are dismissed, so that the accompanying In Forma Pauperis Application
and Motion for Attorney Representation must be and are denied as moot.
Because the action taken here is without prejudice to the possibility of Tamique's trying
again, however, a few additional comments are in order. For one thing, even though federal
procedure calls for notice pleading rather than the fact-pleading regime followed (for example)
in the Illinois state courts, any further effort by Tamique would have to put some explanatory
flesh on the skeletal bones recited in the current Complaint ¶ 6. And Tamique would be well
advised to present any proposed new pleading in a more legible form, rather than employing the
highly idiosyncratic style that has made it so difficult to read her current filings.

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Milton I. Shadur
Senior United States District Judge
Date: July 29, 2015

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