Obidov v. Wolf
- George Daniels
- 1:19-cv-06712
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 1
In Obidov v. Wolf, Magistrate Judge Moses construed a letter as a reply and stayed summary-judgment briefing because the case was closed.
Aziz Obidov and the defendants, including Chad F. Wolf in his official capacity as Acting Secretary of Homeland Security, were affected by the stay of further summary-judgment briefing and the caption substitution.
What happened
In Obidov v. Wolf, the court treated Aziz Obidov’s November 22, 2019 letter as his reply to the defendants’ response to an earlier order. The court said no further briefing on that order was required or would be accepted before the scheduled December 10 hearing.
The court said that, if Obidov intended the letter to be a motion for summary judgment—a request for judgment without a trial—the request was premature because the case had been terminated on August 19, 2019, under a dismissal agreement and had not been reopened. The court also said the request did not meet federal and local procedural requirements and sought relief unavailable under the cited naturalization statute.
Magistrate Judge Barbara Moses stayed all further briefing on summary judgment and directed the Clerk to mail the order to Obidov. The order also directed the Clerk to substitute Chad F. Wolf for Kevin McAleenan in the caption under the federal rule governing substitution of public officials.
The detailed version
- Obidov v. Wolf · No. 1:19-cv-06712
- George Daniels
- Nov. 26, 2019
Background
The court construed Aziz Obidov’s November 22, 2019 letter as his reply to the defendants’ response to the court’s Order to Show Cause. The court stated that, absent another order, no additional briefing on the Order to Show Cause was required or would be accepted before the hearing scheduled for December 10, 2019.
Summary-judgment request
The court addressed the possibility that Obidov intended his letter to be a motion for summary judgment. Summary judgment is a procedure for seeking judgment without a trial when the required legal and factual conditions are met. The court said such a request was premature because the action had been terminated on August 19, 2019, under a Stipulation and Order of Dismissal approved by the district judge, and the action had not been reopened.
The court also stated that the application did not comply with the procedural requirements of Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 56 and Local Civil Rules 6.1, 7.1, and 56.1. In addition, the court said the application sought relief unavailable under 8 U.S.C. § 1447(b). The court cited a Second Circuit decision stating that a person in removal proceedings cannot obtain naturalization from the district court or the Attorney General while those proceedings are pending, and that the district court lacks jurisdiction to review the propriety of the removal proceedings.
Disposition
The court stayed all further briefing concerning summary judgment. It did not state that it granted or denied a summary-judgment motion. The Clerk was directed to mail the order to Obidov. The court also directed the Clerk to substitute Chad F. Wolf, identified as the current Acting Secretary of Homeland Security, for Kevin McAleenan in the caption under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 25(d).
Read the full 1-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.