What is the test for an inmate to bring a claim for access to a law library and legal assistance in prison?
The following excerpt is from Delarm v. Bell, No. 2:14-cv-2792 DB P (E.D. Cal. 2017):
An inmate alleging a violation of this right must show that he suffered an actual injury. Lewis v. Casey, 518 U.S. 343, 349-51 (1996). That is, plaintiff must allege that the deprivation actually injured his litigation efforts, in that the defendant hindered his efforts to bring, or caused him to lose, an actionable claim challenging his criminal sentence or conditions of confinement.
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See id. at 351; Christopher v. Harbury, 536 U.S. 403, 412-15 (2002). The right is limited to the filing of direct criminal appeals, habeas petitions, and civil rights actions. Lewis, 518 U.S. at 354-55. Inmates do not have "an abstract, freestanding right to a law library or legal assistance," and "cannot establish relevant actual injury simply by establishing that [the] prison's law library or legal assistance program is subpar in some theoretical sense." Id. at 351.
B. Does Plaintiff State a Potentially Cognizable Access to Courts Claim?
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