UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA ANGE SAMMA, et al., Plaintiffs, v. Civil Action No. 20-cv-1104 (ESH) UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE, et al., Defendants. MEMORANDUM OPINION Plaintiffs are noncitizens serving in the United States military. They filed this putative class action under the Administrative Procedure Act to challenge the United States Department of Defense’s policy on issuing Certifications of Honorable Service (USCIS Form N-426), which is the form that noncitizens must file with United States Citizenship and Immigration Services in order to apply for naturalization based on military service pursuant to 8 U.S.C. § 1440. Before the Court are plaintiffs’ motion for class certification and appointment of counsel, and cross- motions for summary judgment. This Memorandum Opinion, and the accompanying Order, address only the motion for class certification and appointment of counsel. Plaintiffs seek certification pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure Rule 23(a), (b)(1)(A) and/or (b)(2). Defendants raise several valid objections, which require modification of the proposed class, but with those modifications, class certification is appropriate. Accordingly, for the reasons set forth herein, plaintiffs’ motion for class certification and appointment of counsel will be granted in part and denied in part. 1 BACKGROUND I. FACTUAL BACKGROUND The N-426 Form (“Request for Certification of Military or Naval Service”) is a form created by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”). It must be signed by a representative of the unit of the Armed Forces where the noncitizen is serving and submitted to USCIS along with the service member’s application for naturalization. On October 13, 2017, the United States Department of Defense (“DOD”) issued a formal guidance memorandum on the “Certification of Honorable Service for Members of the Selected Reserve of the Ready Reserve and Members of the Active Components of the Military or Naval Forces for Purposes of Naturalization” (“N-426 Policy”). (See AR 6-9.) The N-426 Policy requires noncitizens serving in the United States military to satisfy specific requirements before they are deemed eligible for a certified N-426. For service members whose enlistment or accession was on or after October 13, 2017, the N-426 Policy provides that: (1) the power to certify an N-426 can either be exercised by the Secretary of the Military Department concerned or be delegated, by the Secretary, to a commissioned officer serving in the pay grade of O-6 or higher (“O-6 Requirement”) (AR 6); 1 Because the parties ended up filing multiple supplemental briefs after the initial briefing on the motion for class certification, the Court will list all of the relevant filings here with the abbreviations that will be used to refer to them throughout this Memorandum Opinion: Pls.’ Mot. for Class Cert., Apr. 28, 2020, ECF No. 5 (“Pls.’ Class Cert. Mot.”); Defs.’ Resp. to Pls.’ Class Cert. Mot., June 1, 2020, ECF No. 23 (“Defs.’ Class Cert. Opp.”); Pls.’ Reply in Support of Class Cert. Mot., June 8, 2020, ECF No. 26 (“Pls.’ Class Cert. Reply”); Defs.’ Class Cert. Surreply, June 22, 2020, ECF No. 29 (“Defs.’ ...
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