Why verified membership matters for pro se litigants

Self-represented litigants need public-interest infrastructure, but unmanaged access creates obvious risks: impersonation, attorney infiltration, bad-faith actors, scams, and unsafe peer support spaces.

Verified membership is not a judgment about the merits of anyone’s case. It is an operational boundary: confirm the person is who they say they are, confirm the person is not an attorney seeking member access, and then route the person into the correct launch workflow.

The association’s public site remains open for education, updates, and donations. Member spaces should require stricter controls.