Liang v. Green Zone

• Court: District Court, District of Columbia
• Decided: June 1, 2026
• Docket: Civil Action No. 2026-1231
• Status: Published

Opinion

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

JULIETTE YAXI LIANG, ) ) Plaintiff, ) ) v. ) Civil Action No. 26-1231 (UNA) ) THE GREEN ZONE, et al.,` ) ) Defendants. )

MEMORANDUM OPINION

This matter is before the Court on initial review of Plaintiff’s application for leave to

proceed in forma pauperis (ECF No. 2) and pro se complaint (ECF No. 1). The Court will grant

the application, and for the reasons discussed below, dismiss the complaint without prejudice.

“A complaint must contain sufficient factual matter, accepted as true, to ‘state a claim to

relief that is plausible on its face.’” Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 678 (2009) (quoting Bell Atl.

Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 570 (2007)). A complaint that lacks “an arguable basis either in

law or in fact” is frivolous, Neitzke v. Williams, 490 U.S. 319, 325 (1989), and the Court cannot

exercise subject matter jurisdiction over a frivolous complaint, Hagans v. Lavine, 415 U.S. 528,

536-37 (1974) (“Over the years, this Court has repeatedly held that the federal courts are without

power to entertain claims otherwise within their jurisdiction if they are ‘so attenuated and

unsubstantial as to be absolutely devoid of merit.’”) (quoting Newburyport Water Co. v.

Newburyport, 193 U.S. 561, 579 (1904)); Tooley v. Napolitano, 586 F.3d 1006, 1010 (D.C. Cir.

2009) (examining cases dismissed “for patent insubstantiality,” including where plaintiff allegedly

“was subjected to a campaign of surveillance and harassment deriving from uncertain origins.”).

Consequently, a Court is obligated to dismiss a complaint as frivolous “when the facts alleged rise

1 to the level of the irrational or the wholly incredible,” Denton v. Hernandez, 504 U.S. 25, 33

(1992), or “postulat[e] events and circumstances of a wholly fanciful kind,” Crisafi v. Holland,

655 F.2d 1305, 1307-08 (D.C. Cir. 1981).

This complaint is largely illegible, and the little that can be understood lacks a basis in law

and fact. The complaint is frivolous, and the Court cannot exercise jurisdiction over a frivolous

complaint. A separate order will issue.

DATE: June 1, 2026 /s/ CHRISTOPHER R. COOPER United States District Judge