More on Almerfedi: Judge Friedman Denies Stay Pending Appeal

More happened in Almerfedi v. Obama last week than just the release of the final public merits brief. Yesterday Judge Friedman denied the government's motion for a stay of the district court's order pending appellate review. In particular, the government's motion requested a stay of a directive (in Judge Friedman's fall 2010 merits opinion) that the government "take all necessary and appropriate steps to facilitate the release of petitioner forthwith.” In yesterday's very terse order denying the government's motion, Judge Friedman wrote the following:

Upon careful consideration of the parties’ papers, the relevant legal authorities, the entire record in this case, and the significant differences between this case and those cases where other judges of this Court have granted stays pending appeal, see Al-Harbi v. Obama, Civil Action No. 05-2479 (D.D.C. Aug. 4, 2010) (Kennedy, J.); Hatim v. Obama, Civil Action No. 05-1429 (D.D.C. May 17, 2010) (Urbina, J.); Al-Adahi v. Obama, 672 F. Supp. 2d 81 (D.D.C. 2009) (Kessler, J.), the Court concludes that a stay is not warranted.

As Judge Friedman recognizes, at least three different judges have granted these motions when opposed. The petitioner's opposition to the government's motion in this case is not public, so it is unclear how the petitioner argued that there were differences between his opposition and those of the detainees who lost their challenges to similar government requests.  In any event, we can expect the government will contest this outcome.