Updated December 1, 2025 at 11:05 AM MST

Tania Nemer is one of dozens of immigration judges fired by the Trump administration this year.

But a new lawsuit filed in Washington, D.C., suggests what happened to Nemer — and why — has the potential to scramble the federal workforce and upend foundational civil rights laws.

Nemer alleges that despite top performance reviews, she was dismissed from her job because of her gender, her status as a dual citizen of Lebanon and the fact that she once ran for municipal office in Ohio as a Democrat. Those reasons, she says, are all in violation of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the First Amendment.

The government has responded by arguing that the president's power to oversee the executive branch under Article II of the U.S. Constitution essenti

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