Mandamus decisions / Eastern District of Virginia

Bogans v. Rubio

Eastern District of VirginiaMichael S NachmanoffDecided October 22, 2026No. 1:26-cv-01911

Read the decision Original on CourtListener

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 On February 13, 2020, USCIS transferred the petition to the United States Department of State for consular processing.
Form or filing	221(g) (consular refusal); DS-260 (immigrant visa) Read by a model As such, “since [Defendants] ha[ve] at least initially refused Plaintiff[‘s mother’s] visa application, [Defendants] ha[ve] adjudicated the application.
What the suit asked for	Finish 221(g) processing Read by a model Count I brings an Administrative Procedures Act (“APA”) and mandamus action challenging Defendants “unnecessary delay in adjudicating the visa petition.”
Kind of order	A ruling on a motion or the petition Read by a model For the reasons discussed above, it is hereby ORDERED that Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss (ECF 6) is GRANTED.
Motion decided	Motion to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction Read by a model For the reasons discussed above, it is hereby ORDERED that Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss (ECF 6) is GRANTED. It is further ORDERED that the Complaint is dismissed without prejudice for lack of subject matter jurisdiction.
Whose motion	The government's motion Read by a model This matter comes before the Court on Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss
Disposition	Dismissed The case or every delay claim was dismissed for a reason other than mootness. Read by a model It is further ORDERED that the Complaint is dismissed without prejudice for lack of subject matter jurisdiction.
Prevailing party	Government Read by a model The clerk is directed to forward a copy of this Order to counsel of record, enter judgment in Defendants’ favor pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 58, and close this civil action.
The delay claim	Dismissed Read by a model This Court agrees and will dismiss Count I for lack of subject matter jurisdiction.
The other claims	Moot: the agency acted Read by a model Counts II through VI, therefore, no longer present a live controversy and are moot.
Months pending	51.3 months from the application to the suit The agency acted before this decision, so the months up to the decision are not a delay and are not shown. Read by a model On March 22, 2022, Plaintiff’s mother appeared for her consular interview at the U.S. Embassy in Liberia.
TRAC factors	The court did not weigh the TRAC factors Read by a model
Threshold rulings	Held moot; No duty to re-adjudicate a 221(g) refusal Read by a model Counts II through VI, therefore, no longer present a live controversy and are moot.
Nationality	Liberia Read by a model on behalf of her mother, a citizen of Liberia.
I-130 category	Immediate relative Read by a model Sobando Ester Bogans (“Plaintiff”) is a United States citizen. ECF 1 ¶ 1. On January 1, 2019, Plaintiff filed a Form I-130 Petition with United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) on behalf of her mother, a citizen of Liberia.

How the case ended

Docket: No. 1:26-cv-01911
Filed: June 30, 2026
Status: Pending as of the last docket check

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 Fourth 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.

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
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
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
Sesay v. United States, 984 F.3d 312

Fourth Circuit, January 5, 2021. Consular nonreviewability bars review of a relative's visa refusal; under Din and Trump v. Hawaii a valid statutory citation satisfies Mandel, and the court will not look behind it absent a particularized showing of bad faith.

ImmCite: treatment available, history exists, not clearance. ImmCite has read all 4 published decisions citing this case, as of 2026-10-30; none treats it adversely. That describes those decisions; it is not a determination that the case is good law.
Gonzalez v. Cuccinelli, 985 F.3d 357

Fourth Circuit, January 14, 2021. Courts may review delay in placing U-visa petitioners on the waitlist under the TRAC factors and should not dismiss such claims at the pleading stage, but lack jurisdiction over delay in pre-waitlist work-permit requests, a point on which the Sixth Circuit disagrees.

ImmCite: caution, adverse or limiting treatment found. Rejected in the Sixth Circuit by Barrios Garcia v. U.S. Department of Homeland Security, 25 F.4th 430 (2022).
Lovo v. Miller, 107 F.4th 199

Fourth Circuit, July 3, 2024. The 'decision or action' language of § 1182(a)(9)(B)(v), which the court treated as coextensive with § 1252(a)(2)(B)(ii), does not reach USCIS inaction, so a district court may hear a claim that USCIS unreasonably delayed a provisional unlawful-presence waiver.

ImmCite: treatment available, history exists, not clearance. ImmCite has read all 5 published decisions citing this case, as of 2026-10-29; none treats it adversely. That describes those decisions; it is not a determination that the case is good law.