# Medani v. Trump **Status: stub — expand.** A class action in the Northern District of California over the suspension of the **Diversity Visa** (green card lottery) program, and a 2026 worked example of a court declining contempt in favour of a stronger order. - **28 August 2026** — order requiring the government to resume processing and expedite diversity visa adjudications after the program was shut down. - **23 September 2026** — plaintiffs moved for civil contempt and a deadline extension, alleging the government was slow-walking compliance ahead of a 30 September statutory deadline. - **28 September 2026** — the Justice Department responded that slow processing is not grounds for contempt. - **30 September 2026** — the court **declined to hold the government in contempt** and instead **extended the deadline by ten days**, to 10 October, expressly because the government had spent the preceding ten days failing to instruct its consular posts to comply. A parallel case involving held diversity visa applicants was pending in the District of Columbia. The disposition is the most common 2026 answer to alleged non-compliance by a federal agency: a restated order with a new deadline rather than a sanction — the remedy for not using the time being more time. ## See also - [[How a Federal Court Order Is Enforced]] · [[Contempt of Court]]