United States Fourth Circuit

Dismissal of petitions under 8 U.S.C. section 1447(b) in federal court based on mootness, which petitions were filed before the U.S. Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services denied petitioners' naturalization applications, is reversed as section 1447(b) vests exclusive jurisdiction in the district court, depriving the CIS of jurisdiction to adjudicate an application unless instructed to do so by the district court.

Appellate Information

• Decided 08/02/2007
• Published 08/02/2007

Judges

• Before MOTZ and SHEDD, Circuit Judges, and HAMILTON, Senior Circuit Judge.

Court

• United States Fourth Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellees:
  
• ARGUED:  Thomas A. Elliot, Elliot & Mayock, L.L.P., Washington, DC, for Appellants.  Jennifer A. Wright, Assistant United States Attorney, Office of the United States Attorney, Baltimore, Maryland, for Appellees.   ON BRIEF:  R. Scott Oswald, Nicholas W. Woodfield, Employment Law Group, P.C., Washington, DC, for Appellant Max Alobwede Etape.  Rod J. Rosenstein, United States Attorney, Neil R. White, Assistant United States Attorney, Office of the United States Attorney, Baltimore, Maryland, for Appellees.   Mary A. Kenney, Washington, DC, for American Immigration Law Foundation, Amicus Supporting Appellants.