Mandamus decisions / District of Columbia

Rasool v. Mayorkas

District of ColumbiaTREVOR N. McFADDENDecided November 23, 2021No. 1:21-cv-02367

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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.

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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	USCIS Read by a model And it is USCIS, not the Secretary or DHS, that possesses the authority for processing and adjudicating immigration applications.
Form or filing	I-589 (asylum) Read by a model Rasool’s Complaint seeks to force the local USCIS office to “adjudicate his asylum application and his withholding application forthwith.”
What the suit asked for	Decide the asylum application Read by a model Rasool’s Complaint seeks to force the local USCIS office to “adjudicate his asylum application and his withholding application forthwith.”
Kind of order	A transfer order Read by a model ORDERED that the Clerk of the Court shall transfer this case to the Eastern District of Virginia, Alexandria Division.
Motion decided	Other motion to dismiss; Transfer Read by a model Defendant’s Motion to Transfer and Dismiss is GRANTED as to the motion to transfer and DENIED WITHOUT PREJDUICE as to the motion to dismiss;
Whose motion	The government's motion Read by a model Defendants move to transfer this case to the Eastern District of Virginia or, in the alternative, to dismiss.
Disposition	Transferred to another court An order moving the case to another court. It decides where the suit is heard, not who wins, so it is not counted as either side's win. Read by a model ORDERED that the Clerk of the Court shall transfer this case to the Eastern District of Virginia, Alexandria Division.
Prevailing party	Neither side Read by a model ORDERED that the Clerk of the Court shall transfer this case to the Eastern District of Virginia, Alexandria Division.
The delay claim	Not decided here Read by a model Because the Court will transfer the case to the Eastern District, it need not reach the substance of Defendant’s motion to dismiss and will deny it without prejudice.
The other claims	Not decided here Read by a model Because the Court will transfer the case to the Eastern District, it need not reach the substance of Defendant’s motion to dismiss and will deny it without prejudice.
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

How the case ended

Docket: No. 1:21-cv-02367
Filed: September 7, 2021
Ended: November 24, 2021
Suit's filing to its end: 78 days
How it ended: Transferred
From the record: idb disp 0 (transferred to another district)

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.