## Facts

- The People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI) was designated by the Secretary of State as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) under the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 (AEDPA).
- An FTO designation triggers serious legal consequences, including asset-freezing authority, immigration bars, and potential criminal liability for providing material support.
- In July 2008, PMOI petitioned the Secretary to revoke the FTO designation; the Secretary denied the petition after reviewing a record containing classified and unclassified information and provided PMOI a heavily redacted administrative summary.
- In 2010, the D.C. Circuit held that the revocation process denied PMOI adequate notice and a fair opportunity to respond, and remanded with instructions requiring PMOI be allowed to review and rebut unclassified record materials and requiring the Secretary to identify which sources were considered sufficiently credible.
- Nearly two years after remand, the Secretary still had not issued a final, reviewable decision resolving PMOI’s revocation petition.
- PMOI filed a petition for a writ of mandamus seeking an order compelling agency action or, alternatively, judicial relief setting aside the FTO designation due to continued inaction.

## Issues

1. Whether the Secretary’s nearly two-year failure to issue a reviewable post-remand decision on PMOI’s revocation petition warranted mandamus relief for unreasonable delay and noncompliance with the court’s mandate.
2. What remedy was appropriate: a court-ordered deadline compelling action, and whether continued noncompliance could justify setting aside the FTO designation.

## Decision

- The D.C. Circuit granted partial mandamus relief.
- The court ordered the Secretary to act on PMOI’s revocation petition within four months of the opinion.
- The court ruled that if the Secretary did not act within that deadline, it would grant mandamus setting aside PMOI’s FTO designation.

## Legal Principles

- Mandamus is an extraordinary remedy but may issue to address agency delay where a clear duty to act exists, including enforcing compliance with a prior appellate mandate.
- When an agency action imposes severe, continuing legal consequences, prolonged post-remand inaction—especially after identified procedural deficiencies—can constitute unreasonable delay warranting judicial intervention.
- Executive deference in foreign-affairs and national-security matters does not permit indefinite postponement of a judicially required process that results in a reviewable final agency decision.
- A court may craft targeted mandamus relief by imposing a concrete deadline and conditioning further relief (including vacatur of the challenged status) on continued agency noncompliance.

## Conclusion

The D.C. Circuit used mandamus to enforce its prior remand and to prevent indefinite continuation of the burdens of an FTO designation without a timely, reviewable decision, ordering the Secretary to decide the revocation petition within four months and conditioning vacatur of the designation on further inaction.


In re People’s Mojahedin Org. of Iran, 680 F.3d 832 (D.C. Cir. 2012)