Mandamus decisions / Eastern District of California

Iqbal v. Blinken

Eastern District of CaliforniaKimberly J. MuellerDecided November 9, 2023No. 2:23-cv-01299

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2,914 written decisions from 2,661 cases in the whole mandamus and agency-delay group, the group's newest decided October 30, 2026. Updated November 3, 2026 at 1:24 a.m. CT; the Passim connector counts the live collection, which can differ by the day's additions and retirements (which total to quote). Coverage: of the 1,606 public decisions since January 1, 2025 that a CourtListener and GovInfo search for mandamus and agency delay finds, Passim holds 1,371 (85%), measured November 3, 2026. Some of what that search finds are not mandamus decisions. Tell us about a decision we're missing.

These are counts of past written decisions and dockets, not predictions of how any case will be decided. A distribution appears only when at least 5 decisions (or 5 dockets) are behind it; smaller groups are listed, not summarized. How it's counted.

What the decision decided

Each value cites the passage it was read from. Values read by a model were checked against that passage; values read by rule come from fixed text patterns. Read the decision before relying on either.

Agency	Department of State Read by a model The INA provides “[a]ll immigrant visa applications shall be reviewed and adjudicated by a consular officer.”
Form or filing	DS-260 (immigrant visa) Read by a model The beneficiary plaintiffs submitted DS-260 Immigrant Visa Electronic Applications and all the required documents and applicable fees for immediate relative immigrant visas.
What the suit asked for	Decide the application Read by a model They also claim defendants have unreasonably delayed the adjudication of plaintiffs’ immigrant visas in violation of 5 U.S.C. § 555(b) (claim four) and seek relief under the Mandamus Act, 28 U.S.C. § 1361 (claim five).
Kind of order	A ruling on a motion or the petition Read by a model Defendants’ motion to dismiss is granted in part.
Motion decided	Motion to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction; Motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim Read by a model Defendants move to dismiss for lack of subject matter jurisdiction and failure to state a claim.
Whose motion	The government's motion Read by a model Defendants move to dismiss for lack of subject matter jurisdiction and failure to state a claim.
Disposition	Dismissed in part; some claims go on The government's motion to dismiss was granted in part: some claims were dismissed and others go on. Read by a model Defendants’ motion to dismiss plaintiffs’ fourth and fifth claims is denied.
Prevailing party	Each side in part Read by a model Defendants’ motion to dismiss plaintiffs’ fourth and fifth claims is denied.
The delay claim	The delay claim goes on Read by a model Defendants’ motion to dismiss plaintiffs’ fourth and fifth claims is denied.
The other claims	Dismissed Read by a model Plaintiffs’ first, second and third claims are dismissed without leave to amend.
Months pending	Not stated Read by a model
TRAC factors	The court did not weigh the TRAC factors Read by a model
Threshold rulings	None Read by a model
Nationality	Pakistan Read by a model Plaintiffs are three United States citizens and their respective Pakistani-national spouses (beneficiary plaintiffs).
I-130 category	Immediate relative Read by a model The beneficiary plaintiffs submitted DS-260 Immigrant Visa Electronic Applications and all the required documents and applicable fees for immediate relative immigrant visas.

Other orders in this case

The group holds 2 decisions from this suit, oldest first. Outcome counts on these pages count the case once, by its latest decision. How decisions are grouped into cases.

Decision	Decided	Judge	Disposition
Iqbal v. BlinkenThis decision	November 9, 2023	Kimberly J. Mueller	Dismissed in part; some claims go on
Iqbal v. BlinkenThe case's latest decision: its outcome is the one counted	September 18, 2025	Kimberly Jo Mueller	Attorney's fees

How the case ended

Docket: No. 2:23-cv-01299
Filed: June 30, 2023
Ended: July 2, 2025
Suit's filing to its end: 733 days
How it ended: Ended once the agency acted
From the record: idb disp 12 (dismissed: voluntarily)

A voluntary or stipulated dismissal is how most suits end once the agency acts; the docket rarely says why. Other suits in this court.

Supreme Court and Ninth Circuit authority

District decisions bind no one. On the questions this decision raises, the Supreme Court decisions and the circuit's published decisions listed here bind this court; a circuit disposition marked nonprecedential was not published as precedent and is persuasive only. ImmCite status as read November 3, 2026. Check the current status before relying on one.

Trump v. Hawaii, 585 U.S. 667

Supreme Court, June 26, 2018. Mandel's facially-legitimate-and-bona-fide standard governs constitutional challenges to entry restrictions, and a citation to a valid statutory ground ordinarily satisfies it.

ImmCite: treatment available, history exists, not clearance
Department of State v. Muñoz, 602 U.S. 899

Supreme Court, June 21, 2024. A U.S. citizen has no fundamental liberty interest in a noncitizen spouse's admission, so marriage alone entitles the citizen neither to Mandel review of the consular refusal nor to an explanation beyond the statutory citation.

ImmCite: treatment available, history exists, not clearance
Kleindienst v. Mandel, 408 U.S. 753

Supreme Court, June 29, 1972. When a visa refusal burdens a U.S. citizen's own constitutional rights, courts ask only whether the Executive gave a facially legitimate and bona fide reason and do not look behind it.

ImmCite: treatment available, history exists, not clearance
Norton v. Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, 542 U.S. 55

Supreme Court, June 14, 2004. Section 706(1) and mandamus reach only a discrete agency action that the agency is legally required to take, so a court cannot compel programmatic improvements or action the law leaves to agency discretion.

ImmCite: treatment available, history exists, not clearance
Allen v. Milas, 896 F.3d 1094

Ninth Circuit, July 24, 2018. The APA provides no avenue for review of a consular visa refusal beyond Mandel's facially-legitimate-and-bona-fide inquiry, and consular nonreviewability is not a jurisdictional bar.

ImmCite: treatment available, history exists, not clearance. ImmCite has read all 8 published decisions citing this case, as of 2026-10-31; none treats it adversely. That describes those decisions; it is not a determination that the case is good law.
Sanchez Gonzalez v. United States Department of State, No. 23-4205 (9th Cir. Apr. 30, 2026)

Ninth Circuit, April 30, 2026. After Muñoz, a citizen spouse's own First Amendment interest triggered Mandel review, which a facially legitimate and bona fide reason satisfied absent a showing of bad faith.

ImmCite: unchecked, treatment not confirmed yet, not evidence either way. ImmCite has found no published decision citing this case as of 2026-10-18; it checks for new citing decisions daily. That is not a determination that the case is good law.
Independence Mining Co. v. Babbitt, 105 F.3d 502

Ninth Circuit, January 23, 1997. Mandamus and APA § 706(1) claims to compel delayed agency action are analyzed alike under the TRAC factors.

ImmCite: treatment available, history exists, not clearance
Vaz v. Neal, 33 F.4th 1131

Ninth Circuit, May 9, 2022. Section 706(1) compels only a clear, mandatory and discrete duty that has been unreasonably delayed under TRAC, and the APA's prerequisites go to the merits while § 1331 supplies jurisdiction.

ImmCite: unchecked, treatment not confirmed yet, not evidence either way. ImmCite has found no published decision citing this case as of 2026-11-03; it checks for new citing decisions daily. That is not a determination that the case is good law. The citation index lists 144 other decisions citing it, none a Supreme Court, BIA or Attorney General precedent or a published circuit opinion; ImmCite's status does not review them.