Tessema v. Department of Labor/OLC

Background

Ezra Tessema, appearing without a lawyer, filed a petition under 28 U.S.C. § 2241. He described the petition as challenging “unethical research” involving environmental exposures to his body and the use of statistics to support “exclusionist behavioral economic policy.” The respondents listed in the caption included the Department of Labor/OLC, the Office of General Counsel-SEC, the Navy, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Veterans Affairs, Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve, Dr. Tedla Tessema, and Desta Tessema.

Court’s reasoning

The court stated that Tessema had previously filed a substantially similar complaint against the Environmental Protection Agency. That earlier related case, docket number 20-cv-9700, was pending before Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil of the same court. Because the earlier case raised substantially the same claims, the court relied on its authority to manage its docket and dismissed this petition as duplicative.

Ruling

Judge Ronnie Abrams dismissed the petition. The order did not state that the dismissal was with or without prejudice. The court also ruled that a certificate of appealability would not issue because Tessema had not made a substantial showing that a constitutional right had been denied. The clerk was directed to mail Tessema a copy of the order.