United States Court of Appeals For the Second Circuit

August Term 2022

Argued: November 14, 2022 Decided: November 29, 2022

No. 22-795

PUBLIUS PUBLICOLA,

Plaintiff-Appellant,

v.

JOHN LOMENZO, TOWN OF PENFIELD, JOSEPH VALENTINO, DOUGLAS RANDALL, DESTINI BOWMAN, KAREN BAILEY TURNER, CRAIG DORAN, WILLIAM HOOKS, CARA BROUSSEAU, NEW YORK STATE LAW REPORTING BUREAU, SHAWN KERBY, NANCY BARRY,

Defendants-Appellees. *

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of New York No. 21-cv-1303, David N. Hurd, Judge.

Before: SACK, SULLIVAN, and LEE, Circuit Judges.

Appellant, proceeding pro se and under the pseudonym “Publius Publicola,” appeals from the district court’s judgment (1) denying his motion to

* The Clerk of Court is respectfully directed to amend the official case caption as set forth above. proceed under a pseudonym and (2) dismissing his claims under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 against various state and municipal officials and agencies for actions they took in response to his efforts to seal records pertaining to criminal cases from his youth. In this appeal, Appellant has signed his briefs and other submissions to the Court using a pseudonym, without either obtaining the Court’s authorization to do so or clearly disclosing his identity to the Court. After the Court ordered him to refile his briefs under his real name, with leave to request filing under seal should circumstances justify the filing of a redacted version on the public docket, Appellant submitted a letter indicating his refusal to comply with the Court’s order.

In light of Appellant’s letter, we are tasked primarily with deciding (1) whether a litigant may comply with Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 32(d) – which requires that “[e]very brief, motion, or other paper filed with the [C]ourt [of Appeals] must be signed by the party filing the paper” – by signing his submissions under a pseudonym; and (2) whether a pro se appellant’s failure to comply with that requirement warrants dismissal of his appeal. We conclude that, because papers signed under a pseudonym cannot adequately “ensure[] that a readily identifiable attorney or party takes responsibility for every paper,” Fed. R. App. P. 32(d), Advisory Comm. note to 2002 amend. (emphasis added), they do not satisfy Rule 32(d). We further conclude that under Rule 3(a)(2) and our precedents emphasizing the obligation of pro se litigants to comply with Court orders, dismissal is warranted here.

As a result, we DISMISS the appeal.

APPEAL DISMISSED.

Publius Publicola, pro se, Jersey City, NJ, for Plaintiff-Appellant.

JAMES A. RESILA, Schwab & Gasparini, PLLC, Albany, NY, for Defendants-Appellees Lomenzo and Town of Penfield.

2 Barbara D. Underwood, Solicitor General, Andrea Oser, Deputy Solicitor General, Alexandria Twinem, Assistant Solicitor General, for Letitia James, Attorney General of the State of New York