Presidential transition and mandamus?

For those of you who have been following whether Joe Biden is, in fact, President-Elect and whether he can begin his transition.

The Presidential Transition Act of 1963 requires the administrator of the General Services Administration to "ascertain" someone as the "apparent" winner of the presidential (and vice presidential) election. This vests a great deal of discretion in the administrator, although it historically has been done when one candidate had been the apparent victor in "called" elections adding to 270 electoral votes. The current delay was due in part to the fact that several states (PA, AZ, GA, NC) had not been "called," although that has happened. The administrator could wait until 270-electoral-votes of states have certified the result. Or it could wait until after the Electoral College has voted, although that has happened only in 2000. Meanwhile, we wait.

Can Biden do anything in the meantime? If you recall Marbury, there is the writ of mandamus, a court order compelling an official to do their (non-discretionary) administrative duty. The Marbury Court first considered whether delivering the commission was a non-discretionary administrative act that can be ordered via mandamus, concluding that it was. Ascertaining the election winner is more discretionary than delivering a commission. At some point, however, it will be so "apparent" that Biden won the election that any administrative discretion to refuse to "ascertain" disappears.

But wait, Professor Wasserman (I hear you say), didn't the Court say that it had no jurisdiction to issue the writ? Yes, the Supreme Court has no original jurisdiction to issue a writ of mandamus. But district courts do, combining the power to issue writs with a grant of jurisdiction (and probably general federal question jurisdiction--sorry for the Civ Pro flashback). So keep an eye on this possibility should GSA continue to drag its feet.