Accuracy update — reviewed August 7, 2026. Crandall v. Nevada did not create a general right to file every court action without fees. It invalidated a Nevada tax imposed on people leaving the state and is principally associated with interstate travel and access to the federal government.
What Crandall decided
In Crandall v. Nevada, 73 U.S. (6 Wall.) 35 (1868), Nevada imposed a one-dollar tax on each person leaving the state by railroad or stagecoach. The Supreme Court held that a state could not burden the right of citizens to move through the country and reach the federal government.
The decision did not involve a court filing fee, indigent-access procedure, family case, or state administrative fee. Quoting its broad language without its facts can lead to an incorrect conclusion.
Court fees are governed by different cases and statutes
Access-to-courts questions are context specific. In Boddie v. Connecticut, 401 U.S. 371 (1971), due process prevented a state from denying indigent people access to its exclusive divorce process solely because they could not pay fees. But United States v. Kras, 409 U.S. 434 (1973), declined to extend that reasoning to a bankruptcy filing fee. M.L.B. v. S.L.J., 519 U.S. 102 (1996), barred conditioning an indigent parent’s appeal from a parental-rights termination decree on payment of record-preparation fees.
These cases do not establish that every fee is unconstitutional. The analysis may consider indigency, the interest at stake, whether the government controls the only lawful avenue for relief, available waiver procedures, and the governing statute or rule.
How to evaluate a fee or access barrier
- Identify the exact fee, who imposed it, and the statutory authority.
- Determine whether a fee-waiver or indigency process exists.
- Document income, assets, expenses, and the denial decision.
- Identify the right and proceeding affected.
- Use the controlling decisions of the relevant state and federal courts.
- Preserve deadlines while seeking review of a fee decision.
Use the State Citizen Trust Authority Library to research the controlling jurisdiction-specific law.
Educational information only. This article is not legal advice.
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