Cite as: 506 U. S. 194 (1993)
Thomas, J., dissenting
an affidavit through an agent. See, e. g., Davidson v. Jones, Sullivan & Jones, 196 S. W. 571, 572 (Tex. Civ. App. 1917) (partnership); Sime v. Hunter, 50 Cal. App. 629, 634, 195 P. 935, 937 (1920) (partnership); In re McGill's Estate, 52 Nev. 35, 44, 280 P. 321, 323 (1929) (corporation); Payne v. Civil Service Employees Assn., Inc., 27 Misc. 2d 1006, 1006-1007, 218 N. Y. S. 2d 871, 872 (Sup.) (association), aff'd, 15 App. Div. 2d 265, 222 N. Y. S. 2d 725 (1961); Kepl v. Manzanita Corp., 246 Ore. 170, 178, 424 P. 2d 674, 678 (1967) (corporation); Federal Land Bank of St. Paul v. Anderson, 401 N. W. 2d 709, 712 (N. D. 1987) (corporation).3 And an artificial entity, like any other litigant, can lack the wherewithal to pay costs.
Permitting artificial entities to proceed in forma pauperis may be unwise, and it may be an inefficient use of the Government's limited resources, but I see nothing in the text of
which the district court is located. An unincorporated association that lacks the capacity to sue or be sued under the law of the forum State may still litigate in federal court when the action is brought for the enforcement of a federal right.
3 Before acknowledging that an agent can make an affidavit on behalf of an artificial entity, the majority pauses to say that such an entity cannot make an affidavit itself. Ante, at 204. I suppose this distinction has some metaphysical significance, but I fail to see how it is otherwise relevant, since any action an artificial entity takes must be done through an agent. (It is noteworthy that two of the cases cited by the majority for the proposition that an artificial entity cannot make an affidavit recognize that an agent can make an affidavit on an entity's behalf. See In re Empire Refining Co., 1 F. Supp. 548, 549 (SD Cal. 1932) ("On its behalf some representative must speak"); Strand Restaurant Co. v. Parks Engineering Co., 91 A. 2d 711, 712 (D. C. 1952).) In any event, there is authority for the view that at least under some circumstances, there is no distinction at all—theoretical or otherwise—between an affidavit made on behalf of an artificial entity and an affidavit of the entity itself. See Utah Farm Production Credit Assn. v. Watts, 737 P. 2d 154, 157 (Utah 1987) ("Where an affidavit is made by an officer, it is generally considered to be the affidavit of the corporation itself"); American Soda Fountain Co. v. Stolzenbach, 75 N. J. L. 721, 734, 68 A. 1078, 1083 (1908) ("[W]here it becomes necessary for a corporation . . . to make an affidavit, the affidavit may be made in its behalf by an officer thereof . . . ; . . . such affidavit is, in legal contemplation, the affidavit of the corporation, and not of an agent").
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