222
Thomas, J., dissenting
forma pauperis statute. Neitzke v. Williams, 490 U. S. 319 (1989), presented the question whether a complaint that fails to state a claim under Rule 12(b)(6) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure is necessarily "frivolous" for purposes of 28 U. S. C. § 1915(d). Rejecting the argument that an affirmative answer to that question would help to lighten the burden that the in forma pauperis statute imposes on "efficient judicial administration," we stated that "our role in appraising petitioners' reading of § 1915(d) is not to make policy, but to interpret a statute," and that the proposed reading might be appealing "as a broadbrush means of pruning meritless complaints from the federal docket," but "as a matter of statutory construction it is untenable." 490 U. S., at 326.
The Court suggests that a reading of § 1915 under which an artificial entity is entitled to in forma pauperis status would force it to confront "difficult issues of policy and administration." Ante, at 208. Far from avoiding policy determinations, however, the Court effectively engages in policymaking by refusing to credit the legislative judgments that are implicit in the statutory language. Any reading of the phrase "unless the context indicates otherwise" that permits courts to override congressional policy judgments is in my view too broad. Congress has spoken, and we should give effect to its words.
III
Congress has created a rule of statutory construction (an association is a "person") and an exception to that rule (an association is not a "person" if the "context indicates otherwise"), but the Court has permitted the exception to devour the rule. In deciding that an association is not a "person" for purposes of 28 U. S. C. § 1915(a), the Court effectively reads 1 U. S. C. § 1 as if the presumption ran the other way— as if the statute said that "in determining the meaning of any Act of Congress, unless the context indicates otherwise, the word 'person' does not include corporations, partnerships, and associations." While it might make sense as a
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