Cite as: 532 U. S. 757 (2001)
Opinion of the Court
he appealed, and naming the court to which he appealed. See Fed. Rule App. Proc. 3(c)(1). He typed his own name in the space above "(Counsel for Appellant)," and also typed, in the spaces provided on the form, his address and the date of the notice. The form Becker completed contained no statement or other indication of a signature requirement and Becker did not hand sign the notice.
The District Court docketed the notice, sent a copy to the Court of Appeals, and subsequently granted Becker leave to proceed in forma pauperis on appeal. Becker received a letter from the Sixth Circuit Clerk's Office telling him that his appeal had been docketed and setting a briefing schedule. The letter stated: "The court is aware that you are not an attorney and it will not hold you to the same standards it requires of them in stating your case." App. 14.
Becker filed his brief more than two weeks in advance of the scheduled deadline. He signed it both on the cover and on the last page. Some six months later, on its own motion, the Sixth Circuit dismissed the appeal in a spare order relying on that court's prior, published decision in Mattingly v. Farmers State Bank, 153 F. 3d 336 (1998) (per curiam). In Becker's case, the Court of Appeals said, summarily:
"This court lacks jurisdiction over this appeal. The notice of appeal is defective because it was not signed by the pro se appellant or by a qualified attorney." App. 16-17.
No court officer had earlier called Becker's attention to the need for a signature, and the dismissal order, issued long after the 30-day time to appeal expired, accorded Becker no opportunity to cure the defect.
Becker filed a timely but unsuccessful motion for reconsideration, to which he appended a new, signed notice of appeal. Thereafter, he petitioned for this Court's review. The Attorney General of Ohio, in response, urged us "to summarily
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