Case: Turner v. Rogers (U.S. Supreme Court 2011)

This case begins to define a trial court's constitutional obligations to self-represented litigants. Much has been written about this case, some of which is included on srln.org. Please use the search feature to find additional resources.

This case arose after a South Carolina family court ordered petitioner Turner to pay $51.73 per week to respondent Rogers to help support their child, Turner repeatedly failed to pay the amount due and was held in contempt five times. For the first four, he was sentenced to 90 days’ imprisonment, but he ultimately paid what he owed (twice without being jailed, twice after spending a few days in custody). The fifth time he did not pay but completed a 6-month sentence. After his release, the family court clerk issued a new “show cause” order against Turner because he was $5728.76 in arrears. Both he and Rogers were unrepresented by counsel at his brief civil contempt hearing. The judge found Turner in willful contempt and sentenced him to 12 months in prison without making any finding as to his ability to pay or indicating on the contempt order form whether he was able to make support payments. After Turner completed his sentence, the South Carolina Supreme Court rejected his claim that the Federal Constitution entitled him to counsel at his contempt hearing, declaring that civil contempt does not require all the constitutional safeguards applicable in criminal contempt proceedings.

Among other holdings, the US Supreme Court held that Turner’s incarceration violated due process because he received neither counsel nor the benefit of alternative procedures like those the Court describes. He did not have clear notice that his ability to pay would constitute the critical question in his civil contempt proceeding. No one provided him with a form (or the equivalent) designed to elicit information about his financial circumstances. And the trial court did not find that he was able to pay his arrearage, but nonetheless found him in civil contempt and ordered him incarcerated.

Read more at Legal Information Institute, from which the above exceprts have been taken. Audio of the oral argument is available at Justia. The full opinion is attached.

Recommended Citation: Turner v. Rogers, et al., 564 U.S. 431 (2011)