Writ of mandamus:
Latin for “we order,” a writ (more modernly called a “writ of mandate”) which orders a public agency or governmental body to perform an act required by law when it has neglected or refused to do so. [Law.com]
Noted in “The D.C. Circuit’s Passive-Aggressive Approach to Military Commission Mandamus,” Steve Vladeck, Lawfare:
This Wednesday at 9:30 a.m., a three-judge panel of the D.C. Circuit (Rogers, Tatel and Griffith, JJ.) will hold a rare August argument session to hear the latest petition for a writ of mandamus from the Guantánamo military commissions. The specific issue in In re Mohammad is whether one of the judges on the Court of Military Commission Review (CMCR), Judge Scott Silliman, should have recused from hearing an interlocutory appeal by the government in the 9/11 case because of statements he made prior to becoming a CMCR judge reflecting apparent bias against the 9/11 defendants.
