Passim

Mandamus decisions / District of Columbia

Turner v. Napolitano

District of ColumbiaJames E. BoasbergDecided December 17, 2013No. 1:13-cv-00504

Read the decisionOriginal on CourtListener

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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
USCIS did originally respond to Plaintiff’s request by sending a letter of denial due to his inability to appear for an in-person interview at a USCIS field office.
Form or filing None named Read by a model
What the suit asked for Some other action Read by a model
As a result of this denial, Turner brought this action against Janet Napolitano, in her capacity at that time as Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, seeking to force USCIS to accept and process his request.
Kind of order A ruling on a motion or the petition Read by a model
For the foregoing reasons, the Court will grant Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss.
Motion decided Motion to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction; Motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim Read by a model
Defendant’s Motion invokes the legal standards for dismissal under Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 12(b)(1) and 12(b)(6).
Whose motion The government's motion Read by a model
For the foregoing reasons, the Court will grant Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss.
Disposition Dismissed The case or every delay claim was dismissed for a reason other than mootness. Read by a model
Because Defendant has already performed the only ministerial duty it owed to Turner, “the Court has no further function to perform and, therefore, will dismiss the mandamus claim as moot.”
Prevailing party Government Read by a model
Because Defendant has already performed the only ministerial duty it owed to Turner, “the Court has no further function to perform and, therefore, will dismiss the mandamus claim as moot.”
The delay claim Moot: the agency acted Read by a model
Because Defendant has already performed the only ministerial duty it owed to Turner, “the Court has no further function to perform and, therefore, will dismiss the mandamus claim as moot.”
The other claims Dismissed Read by a model
Plaintiff, therefore, states no claim under the APA.
Months pending Not stated at filing 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
While residing there, he sent a letter on November 4, 2012, to the United States Customs and Immigration Service attempting to renounce his citizenship.
TRAC factors The court did not weigh the TRAC factors Read by a model
Threshold rulings Held moot Read by a model
Given that Turner’s mandamus claim is moot, the Court has no jurisdiction to further entertain it.
Nationality United States Read by a model
Pro se Plaintiff Richard Turner, an American citizen, was born in Chicago in 1977.

How the case ended

Docket
No. 1:13-cv-00504
Filed
April 15, 2013
Ended
December 18, 2013
Suit's filing to its end
35 days
How it ended
Ended once the agency acted
From the record
idb disp 14 (dismissed: other)

A voluntary or stipulated dismissal is how most suits end once the agency acts; the docket rarely says why.

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.