Abdulwahab v. Blinken

1 District Judge James L. Robart

7 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT WESTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON 8 AT SEATTLE MARWA IRFAN ABDULWAHAB, et al., No. 2:23-cv-1138-JLR 10 Plaintiffs, STIPULATED MOTION TO HOLD CASE IN ABEYANCE AND 11 v. [PROPOSED] ORDER ANTONY J. BLINKEN, Noted for Consideration on: November 16, 2023 13 Defendant.

Plaintiffs and Defendant, by and through their counsel of record, pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 6 and Local Rules 7(d)(1), 10(g) and 16, hereby jointly stipulate and move to continue to stay these proceedings until December 18, 2023. Plaintiffs bring this case pursuant to the Administrative Procedure Act seeking an order compelling the U.S. State Department to re- adjudicate Plaintiff Qalawz’s nonimmigrant visa application. There is good cause to continue to hold this case in abeyance for an additional 30 days.

Courts have “broad discretion” to stay proceedings. Clinton v. Jones, 520 U.S. 681, 706 (1997). “[T]he power to stay proceedings is incidental to the power inherent in every court to control the disposition of the causes on its docket with economy of time and effort for itself, for counsel, and for litigants.” Landis v. N. Am. Co., 299 U.S. 248, 254 (1936); see also Fed. R. Civ. 2 P. 1.

3 With additional time, this case may be resolved without the need of further judicial intervention. The consular officer approved Plaintiff’s nonimmigrant visa application today. The National Vetting Center will next conduct a final screening step. Once completed, and if no issues arise during the final screening step, the State Department anticipates that the visa refusal will be reconsidered upon completion. Plaintiffs intend to dismiss this case should the visa issue upon completion.

9 To allow for the screening step to occur, the parties request this Court to hold the case in abeyance until December 18, 2023. The parties will submit a joint status report on or before December 18, 2023.

12 Dated: November 16, 2023 Respectfully submitted, TESSA M. GORMAN 14 United States Attorney 15 s/Michelle R. Lambert MICHELLE R. LAMBERT, NYS #4666657 16 Assistant United States Attorney United States Attorney’s Office 17 1201 Pacific Avenue, Suite 700 Tacoma, Washington 98402 18 Phone: 206-428-3824 Email: [email protected] 19 Attorneys for Defendants 20 I certify that this memorandum contains words, in compliance with the Local 21 Civil Rules.

22 s/ Adam W. Boyd ADAM W. BOYD, WSBA #49849 23 Gibbs Houston Pauw 1000 Second Avenue, Suite 1600 1 Seattle, WA 98104 Phone: 206-708-8744 2 Email: [email protected] s/ Kristina David 4 KRISTINA DAVID, Cal. Bar #346347 David Strashnoy Law, PC 5 1901 Avenue of the Stars, Suite 200 Los Angeles, CA 90067 6 Phone: 818-646-7350 Email: [email protected] 7 *Admitted PHV Attorneys for Plaintiffs

1 [PROPOSED] ORDER 2 The case is held in abeyance until December 18, 2023. The parties shall submit a joint status report on or before December 18, 2023. It is so ORDERED.

4 DATED this 17th day of November, 2023.

5 A JAMES L. ROBART 7 United States District Judge