Mandamus decisions / Eastern District of California

Afzal v. Pompeo

Eastern District of CaliforniaWilliam B. ShubbDecided April 15, 2020No. 2:19-cv-01856

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2,996 written decisions from 2,731 cases in the whole mandamus and agency-delay group, the group's newest decided November 12, 2026. Updated November 14, 2026 at 1:17 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 1,617 public decisions since January 1, 2025 that a CourtListener and GovInfo search for mandamus and agency delay finds, Passim holds 1,406 (87%), 1,039 of them in this group, measured November 14, 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	Department of State Read by a model United States Citizenship and Immigration 16 Services approved the petition and forwarded it to the National 17 Visa Center, where it was then sent to the United States Embassy 18 in Pakistan.
Form or filing	221(g) (consular refusal); DS-260 (immigrant visa) Read by a model various government officials to adjudicate Mr. Aslam’s I-130 5 immigrant visa application
What the suit asked for	Finish 221(g) processing Read by a model Aslam’s visa was delayed due to “administrative processing.” 20 (Compl. at 3.) Plaintiffs filed a writ of mandamus seeking to 21 compel adjudication of the application.
Kind of order	An order on fees Read by a model Plaintiffs now move for an award of attorney’s 9 fees and costs pursuant to the Equal Access to Justice Act 10 (“EAJA”), 28 U.S.C. § 2412(d)
Motion decided	Fees under EAJA Read by a model Plaintiffs now move for an award of attorney’s 9 fees and costs pursuant to the Equal Access to Justice Act 10 (“EAJA”), 28 U.S.C. § 2412(d).
Whose motion	The plaintiff's motion Read by a model Plaintiffs now move for an award of attorney’s 9 fees and costs pursuant to the Equal Access to Justice Act 10 (“EAJA”), 28 U.S.C. § 2412(d)
Disposition	Attorney's fees An order on attorney's fees or costs after the case, counted for the side that won the fee motion. Read by a model Plaintiffs now move for an award of attorney’s 9 fees and costs pursuant to the Equal Access to Justice Act 10 (“EAJA”), 28 U.S.C. § 2412(d)
Prevailing party	Government Read by a model Plaintiffs now move for an award of attorney’s 9 fees and costs pursuant to the Equal Access to Justice Act 10 (“EAJA”), 28 U.S.C. § 2412(d)
The delay claim	Not decided here Read by a model This motion for attorney’s fees and costs followed.
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 She married Mr. Aslam, a citizen of Pakistan, on July 5, 2017.
I-130 category	Immediate relative Read by a model Ms. Afzal is a United States citizen. (Compl., Ex. A.) 12 She married Mr. Aslam, a citizen of Pakistan, on July 5, 2017.

How the case ended

Docket: No. 2:19-cv-01856
Filed: September 16, 2019
Ended: January 27, 2020
Suit's filing to its end: 133 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 14, 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 2026-11-13; 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 2026-11-10; it checks for new citing decisions daily. That is not a determination that the case is good law. The citation index lists 145 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.