Petition for Mandamus – Failure on the Merits

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7^th Circuit Court of Appeals

Case Name: Samira Hazama & Ahmed Abdel Hafiz Ghneim v. Rex W. Tillerson

Case No.: 15-2982

Officials: WOOD, Chief Judge, and EASTERBROOK and WILLIAMS, Circuit Judges

Focus: Petition for Mandamus – Failure on the Merits

In an effort to seek judicial review of a consular official’s unfavorable decision on a visa application, Samira Hazama and Ahmed Abdel Hafiz Ghneim filed a petition for a writ of mandamus in the district court for the Northern District of Illinois, where Hazama resides. The district court concluded that it lacked subject-matter jurisdiction over the petition, because it thought that review was precluded under the Supreme Court’s decisions in Kleindienst v. Mandel, 408 U.S. 753 (1972), and Kerry v. Din, 135 S. Ct. 2128 (2015). The district court was correct that this case cannot go forward, but mistaken to think that the problem was jurisdictional. In Morfin v. Tillerson, No. 15-3633, decided today, we concluded that plaintiff loses on the merits. The same result is proper here, both for the reasons stated in Morfin and because the criteria for mandamus relief have not been met. See United States v. Vinyard, 529 F.3d 589, 591 (7th Cir. 2008) (mandamus proper only if the order would inflict irreparable harm, is not effectively reviewable at the end of the case, and so far exceeds the bounds of judicial discretion that it is usurpative, in violation of a clear and indisputable legal right, or patently erroneous).

Affirmed

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Attorney Derek A. Hawkins is the managing partner at Hawkins Law Offices LLC, where he heads up the firm’s startup law practice. He specializes in business formation, corporate governance, intellectual property protection, private equity and venture capital funding and mergers & acquisitions. Check out the website at www.hawkins-lawoffices.com or contact them at 262-737-8825.