Editing Mandamus (section)

====Federal courts====
The authority of the [[United States district court]]s (trial courts) to issue mandamus has been expressly abrogated by Rule 81(b) of the [[Federal Rules of Civil Procedure]],<ref>[https://www.law.cornell.edu/rules/frcp/rule_81 Fed.R.Civ.P. 81] as amended, December 1, 2014. (b) "The writs of scire facias and mandamus are abolished. Relief previously available through them may be obtained by appropriate action or motion under these rules."</ref> but relief in the nature of mandamus can be had by other remedies provided for in the Rules, where provided by statute, or by use of the district courts' equitable powers.

In the context of ''mandamus'' from a [[United States court of appeals]] to a district court, the Supreme Court has ruled that the appellate courts have discretion to issue ''mandamus'' to control an [[abuse of discretion]] by the lower court in unusual circumstances, where there is a compelling reason not to wait for an [[appeal]] from a final [[Judgment (law)|judgment]].<ref>''[[Cheney v. United States District Court|Cheney v. U.S. Dist. Court for Dist. of Columbia]]'', 542 U.S. 367, 390 (2004).</ref> This discretion is exercised very sparingly. It is exercised with somewhat greater frequency, although still sparingly, in the context of [[discovery (law)|discovery]] disputes involving [[privilege (evidence)|privileged materials]], since a district court order erroneously forcing the disclosure of privileged material may never be remediable through a later appeal. In the case ''[[In Re Electronic Privacy Information Center]]'' (2013), privacy advocates sought a writ of mandamus directly from the Supreme Court to halt the [[National Security Agency]]'s bulk phone record collection program. The Supreme Court denied the petition.