Mandamus decisions / Western District of Washington

Zhang v. Dehart

Western District of WashingtonKymberly K. EvansonDecided June 17, 2024No. 2:24-cv-00064

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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	Department of State Read by a model Jim DeHart (consul general of the U.S. Consulate General in Vancouver, British Columbia), Marybeth Turner (deputy chief of mission in the U.S. Embassy in Canada), and Anthony Blinken (secretary of the U.S. Department of State).
Form or filing	221(g) (consular refusal); DS-160 (nonimmigrant visa) Read by a model Zhang applied for an H-4 nonimmigrant visa4 to allow him to move 6 to the United States. Id. ¶ 11. Zhang was interviewed in connection with his visa application in 7 May 2023, and his visa application was later placed in “administrative processing.”
What the suit asked for	Finish 221(g) processing Read by a model order Defendants to process his visa application within 15 days or as soon as reasonably possible.
Kind of order	A transfer order Read by a model the Court finds that venue is not proper here
Motion decided	Motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim Read by a model Defendants’ motion to dismiss under Rule 7 12(b)(6) (Dkt. No. 8) is DENIED without prejudice.
Whose motion	The government's motion Read by a model Defendants moved to dismiss, and the motion is now ripe for adjudication.
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 the Court finds that venue is not proper here
Prevailing party	Neither side Read by a model the Court finds that venue is not proper here
The delay claim	Not decided here Read by a model Accordingly, the Court finds merit in Defendants’ motion on venue grounds, declines to reach the remainder of the motion, and orders the parties to address whether and where this action should be transferred.
Months pending	8 months from the application to the suit; 13.1 months from the application to the court's decision Read by a model Zhang was interviewed in connection with his visa application in 7 May 2023
TRAC factors	The court did not weigh the TRAC factors Read by a model
Threshold rulings	None Read by a model
Nationality	China Read by a model Zhang is a citizen of China currently residing in Canada

How the case ended

Docket: No. 2:24-cv-00064
Filed: January 15, 2024
Ended: July 11, 2024
Suit's filing to its end: 178 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 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.

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
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.