Gertrude Nyanjega v. David Douglas

• Court: Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
• Decided: February 13, 2020
• Docket: 19-1868
• Status: Unpublished

Opinion

United States Court of Appeals For the Eighth Circuit ___________________________

No. 19-1868 ___________________________

Gertrude Nyanjega; Duba Roba

lllllllllllllllllllllPlaintiffs - Appellants

v.

David Douglas, District Director, USCIS, St. Paul Field Office; Chad F. Wolf, Acting Secretary, U.S. Department of Homeland Security; William P. Barr, Attorney General of the United States; Elaine Duke, Ag-Secretary, Department of Homeland Security; Leslie Tritten, Field Office Director

lllllllllllllllllllllDefendants - Appellees ____________

Appeal from United States District Court for the District of Minnesota ____________

Submitted: February 4, 2020 Filed: February 13, 2020 [Unpublished] ____________

Before GRUENDER, BEAM, and KELLY, Circuit Judges. ____________

PER CURIAM. In this action seeking relief under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA), Gertrude Nyanjega and Duba Roba appeal after the district court1 declined to take judicial notice of certain documents and granted summary judgment in favor of defendants. Having carefully reviewed the record and the parties’ arguments on appeal, we find no basis for reversal. See Cravens v. Smith, 610 F.3d 1019, 1029 (8th Cir. 2010) (district court does not abuse its discretion by declining to take judicial notice of irrelevant materials; moreover, any error in failing to take judicial notice is not grounds for reversal unless appellant is prejudiced by the error); Simmons v. Smith, 888 F.3d 994, 998 (8th Cir. 2018), cert. denied, 139 S. Ct. 807 (2019) (reviewing de novo decision of district court granting summary judgment in favor of federal agency under APA); Sierra Club v. Envtl. Prot. Agency, 252 F.3d 943, 947 (8th Cir. 2001) (arbitrary and capricious standard of review affords agency decisions a “high degree of deference”). Accordingly, we affirm. See 8th Cir. R. 47B. ______________________________

1 The Honorable Susan Richard Nelson, United States District Judge for the District of Minnesota, adopting the report and recommendations of the Honorable Steven E. Rau, United States Magistrate Judge for the District of Minnesota.

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