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Lockhart v. Napolitano, 573 F.3d 251 (6th Cir. 2009) (addressing an issue of first impression, the court held that an alien whose citizen spouse died while her husband's petition for her was pending remained a spouse and an immediate relative, following Freeman v. Gonzales, 444 F.3d 1031 (9th Cir. 2006))
Hootkins v. Napolitano, 2009 WL 2222839 (C.D. Cal. 2009) (Certified a Ninth Circuit class, and held that a K-1 fiancee was an immediate relative despite the death of her spouse, and further held that an I-864 substitute sponsor was not required to recognize the validity of the I-130 petition in the case of death of a spouse)
Hanford v. Chertoff, Civ. No. SA-08-CA-0795XR (W.D. Texas, Sept. 17, 2009) (holding K-1 spouse whose citizen spouse died while her adjustment of status application was pending remained eligible for permanent residence despite the death)
Freeman v. Gonzales, 444 F.3d 1031 (9th Cir. 2006) (addressing two issues of first impression, the court first held that an alien who applied for adjustment of status while in the United States under the visa waiver program (VWP) was not bound by the VWP no-contest proviso waiving the right to contest removal action, and further held that an alien whose citizen spouse died while her husband's petition for her was pending remained an immediate relative, despite being widowed after less than two years of marriage; reported in Interpreter Releases, 83 IR 876, Vol. 83, No. 19, May 8, 2006)
Al-Kudsi v. Gonzales, No. 05-1584 (D. Ore Mar. 22, 2006) (establishing right to timely adjudication of naturalization application and setting concrete timeline for adjudication; rejecting the holding in Danilov v. Aguirre, 370 F.Supp 2d. 441 (E.D. Va. 2005); reported in Litigation Clearinghouse Newsletter, American Immigration Law Foundation, Vol. 1 No. 8, April 5, 2006)
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