United States v. Abbott Washroom Systems Inc‪.‬

The petitioners-appellants are four aliens serving federal prison sentences. Each alien, having been convicted of a deportable offense and citing 8 U.S.C. § 1252(i), sought a writ of mandamus from the District Court, compelling the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) to initiate deportation proceedings. The District Court dismissed the appellants cases for lack of jurisdiction, explaining that, because the statute itself provided no criteria for evaluating the governments actions and there were no relevant regulations, there was "no law to apply" to their cases and thus no way to fashion a remedy.