2013 Decisions

Opinions of the United

States Court of Appeals

for the Third Circuit

4-3-2013

In Re: Naadir Muhammad

Precedential or Non-Precedential: Non-Precedential

Docket No. 13-1157

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Recommended Citation

"In Re: Naadir Muhammad " (2013). 2013 Decisions. Paper 1025.

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AMENDED DLD-149 NOT PRECEDENTIAL

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE THIRD CIRCUIT

___________

No. 13-1157

___________

IN RE: NAADIR IBRAHIYM MUHAMMAD,

Petitioner

____________________________________

On a Petition for Writ of Mandamus from the

United States District Court for the District of New Jersey

(Related to D.C. Civil Nos. 1:12-cv-06836 and 1:12-cv-07206)

____________________________________

Submitted Pursuant to Rule 21, Fed. R. App. P.

March 7, 2013

Before: AMBRO, SMITH and CHAGARES, Circuit Judges

(Opinion filed: April 3, 2013)

_________

OPINION

_________

PER CURIAM

Pro se litigant Naadir Ibrahiym Muhammad asks us for a writ of mandamus directing 

the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey to process and serve his petition 

for a writ of habeas corpus in D.C. Civil No. 1:12-cv-06836, and his amended civil rights 

complaint in D.C. Civil No. 1:12-cv-07206. The District Court has since dismissed without 

prejudice Muhammad’s habeas petition, rendering moot his mandamus petition insofar as it 
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relates to D.C. Civil No. 1:12-cv-06836. Following the District Court’s dismissal in D.C. Civil 

No. 1:12-cv-06836, Muhammad sent a letter-motion to this Court requesting that we review 

the constitutionality of the District Court’s action and change the District Judge assigned to his 

cases.

Mandamus is a “drastic remedy” available in extraordinary circumstances only. In re:

Diet Drugs Prods. Liab. Litig., 418 F.3d 372, 378 (3d Cir. 2005). A petitioner seeking the writ 

“must have no other adequate means to obtain the desired relief, and must show that the right 

to issuance is clear and indisputable.” Madden v. Myers, 102 F.3d 74, 79 (3d Cir. 1996). 

Generally, a court’s management of its docket is discretionary, In re Fine Paper Antitrust 

Litig., 685 F.2d 810, 817 (3d Cir. 1982), and there is no “clear and indisputable” right to have a 

district court handle a case in a certain manner, see Allied Chem. Corp. v. Daiflon, Inc., 449 

U.S. 33, 36 (1980). However, mandamus may be warranted when a district court’s delay “is 

tantamount to a failure to exercise jurisdiction.” Madden, 102 F.3d at 79.

The delay complained of by Muhammad is not tantamount to a failure to exercise 

jurisdiction. Because only three months have passed since Muhammad filed his amended 

complaint in D.C. Civil No. 1:12-cv-07206, the delay “does not yet rise to the level of a denial 

of due process.” Id. (denying a mandamus petition where the district court had not ruled on 

petitioner’s motion in four months). We are fully confident that the District Court will 

adjudicate Muhammad’s complaint without undue delay. 

Accordingly, we will deny Muhammad’s petition for a writ of mandamus. We deny his 

letter-motion without prejudice to Muhammad’s ability to revise his arguments in an appeal of 

the District Court’s final order. Because the letter-motion evinces an intent by Muhammad to 
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appeal the District Court’s dismissal of his petition in D.C. Civ. No. 1:12-cv-06836, we direct 

the Clerk of this Court to transmit Muhammad’s letter to the District Court for treatment as a 

notice of appeal. The District Court should docket the notice of appeal as of March 15, 2013.