Sze

Sze et al. (“Plaintiffs”) appeal the grant of summary judgment in favor of the Immigration and Naturalization Service et al. (“Defendants”), and denial of Plaintiffs’ motion for summary judgment. Plaintiffs seek a writ of mandamus ordering the Immigration and Naturalization Service (“INS”) to grant or deny their naturalization applications, and also seek certification of a class of similarly situated applicants. We conclude that we lack Article III case or controversy jurisdiction to consider this appeal, inasmuch as Plaintiffs have all been naturalized, and accordingly, we dismiss this appeal as moot.

I. BACKGROUND

Plaintiffs applied for naturalization to become United States citizens and were examined by an INS officer, however, more than 120 days lapsed and the INS still had not made a determination to grant or deny their applications. Most of the delays were caused by a combination of fingerprint processing overloads at the Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”) and loss of applicant files by the INS. When Plaintiffs did not receive a determination within 120 days, they filed this action, relying on 8 U.S.C. § 1447 (b), 1 as well as 8 C.F.R. §§ 335.3 (a) and 312.5(b), 2 for…