Mandamus decisions / District of Columbia

AFGHAN AND IRAQI ALLIES v. POMPEO

District of ColumbiaTanya S. ChutkanDecided October 9, 2024No. 1:18-cv-01388

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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	Not recorded Read by a model
Form or filing	DS-260 (immigrant visa) Read by a model Afghan and Iraqi Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) Applicants
What the suit asked for	Decide the application Read by a model to compel Defendants to process and adjudicate their SIV applications in accordance with Congress’s instructions.
Kind of order	A ruling on a motion or the petition Read by a model Plaintiffs’ Motion to Strike, ECF No. 216, is DENIED as MOOT.
Motion decided	None Read by a model
Whose motion	The plaintiff's motion Read by a model Plaintiffs move to strike three declarations attached to Defendants’ Motion for Relief from Judgment.
Disposition	Denied, neither side prevailed The principal motion was denied in full: a motion to dismiss denied so the case goes on, or relief denied on the merits. Read by a model Plaintiffs’ Motion to Strike, ECF No. 216, is DENIED as MOOT.
Prevailing party	Neither side Read by a model Striking the Declarations at this stage would have no effect.
The delay claim	Not decided here Read by a model Plaintiffs’ Motion to Strike, ECF No. 216, is DENIED as MOOT.
Months pending	9 months from the application to the court's decision Read by a model applications have been pending for more than nine months
TRAC factors	The court did not weigh the TRAC factors Read by a model
Threshold rulings	None Read by a model
Nationality	Afghanistan Read by a model a class of Afghan and Iraqi Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) Applicants

Other orders in this case

The group holds 9 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
Afghan and Iraqi Allies v. Pompeo	January 30, 2019	Tanya S. Chutkan	Denied in the applicant's favor
Afghan and Iraqi Allies v. Pompeo	September 20, 2019	Tanya S. Chutkan	Granted in part
Afghan and Iraqi Allies v. Pompeo	February 5, 2020	Tanya S. Chutkan	Granted in the applicant's favor
Afghan and Iraqi Allies v. Pompeo	February 5, 2020	Tanya S. Chutkan	Denied in the applicant's favor
Afghan and Iraqi Allies v. Blinken	November 30, 2022	Tanya S. Chutkan	Granted in part
AFGHAN AND IRAQI ALLIES v. POMPEOThis decision	October 9, 2024	Tanya S. Chutkan	Denied, neither side prevailed
Afghan and Iraqi Allies v. Pompeo	June 5, 2025	Tanya S. Chutkan	Granted in part
Afghan and Iraqi Allies v. Pompeo	June 6, 2025	Tanya S. Chutkan	Dismissed in part; some claims go on
Afghan and Iraqi Allies v. PompeoThe case's latest decision: its outcome is the one counted	February 6, 2026	Tanya S. Chutkan	Granted in the applicant's favor

How the case ended

Docket: No. 1:18-cv-01388
Filed: June 12, 2018
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 D.C. 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.

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
Telecommunications Research & Action Center v. FCC, 750 F.2d 70

D.C. Circuit, October 24, 1984. Whether agency delay is unreasonable turns on six factors: a rule of reason, any statutory timetable, the human welfare interests at stake, the effect of expediting on competing priorities, the interests prejudiced by delay, and no need to find impropriety.

ImmCite: treatment available, history exists, not clearance
Mashpee Wampanoag Tribal Council, Inc. v. Norton, 336 F.3d 1094

D.C. Circuit, August 8, 2003. A claim that an agency has unreasonably delayed a matter arises under the APA and § 1331, and the TRAC factors decide whether the delay is unreasonable.

ImmCite: treatment available, history exists, not clearance
In re Core Communications, Inc., 531 F.3d 849

D.C. Circuit, July 8, 2008. Mandamus to compel unreasonably delayed agency action is an extraordinary remedy guided by the TRAC factors, granted here after years of unexplained delay.

ImmCite: treatment available, history exists, not clearance
Da Costa v. Immigration Investor Program Office, 80 F.4th 330

D.C. Circuit, August 18, 2023. EB-5 petition delays of roughly four years were not unreasonable under TRAC where USCIS adjudicates in a rule-of-reason order and expediting the plaintiffs would only move them ahead of others in the queue.

ImmCite: treatment available, history exists, not clearance
American Hospital Ass'n v. Burwell, 812 F.3d 183

D.C. Circuit, February 9, 2016. A delay claim under the Mandamus Act requires a clear duty, a clear right and no adequate alternative remedy, and the TRAC factors then decide whether the delay warrants relief, with a statutory deadline weighing heavily.

ImmCite: treatment available, history exists, not clearance
Afghan and Iraqi Allies v. Blinken, 103 F.4th 807

D.C. Circuit, June 7, 2024. TRAC governs visa-processing delay claims in district court, a court that finds unreasonable delay may set adjudication deadlines, and expediting a whole class in queue order is not line-jumping.

ImmCite: unchecked, treatment not confirmed yet, not evidence either way. ImmCite has found no published decision citing this case as of 2026-10-28; it checks for new citing decisions daily. That is not a determination that the case is good law. The citation index lists 49 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.