Fired prosecutor sues DOJ over FACE Act dismissal

A former federal prosecutor fired after working on a case against anti-abortion activists has sued the Justice Department, alleging she was unlawfully dismissed for political reasons tied to a prosecution the Trump administration opposed.

Sunita Doddamani, a former assistant U.S. attorney in the Eastern District of Michigan, filed the lawsuit Monday in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Her complaint says her April 13 firing was “politically motivated and retaliatory” and violated the Civil Service Reform Act, the Administrative Procedure Act and the First and Fifth Amendments.

Doddamani was one of at least three career prosecutors who lost their jobs in April after working on cases brought under the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, or FACE Act. The law makes it a crime to block access to reproductive health clinics. Congress passed it in 1994 amid concerns about threats and intimidation at such facilities. Nonviolent and first-time offenses are misdemeanors, while repeat offenses or violations causing injury or death can be treated as felonies.

The lawsuit says Doddamani was fired without advance notice, due process or a stated cause. On the day of her dismissal, she immediately lost access to her Justice Department phone and email and was escorted out of the building, according to the complaint.

Later that day, the lawsuit says, Jerome Gorgon, the U.S. attorney for Michigan’s Eastern District, told staff in an office meeting that Doddamani and another prosecutor had been fired for alleged “misconduct,” while also saying he had no prior knowledge of the terminations or the reasons for them.

The Justice Department declined to comment beyond a prior post on X, in which it said: “DOJ has terminated the employment of personnel responsible for weaponizing the FACE Act who still remained at the department.”

One day after the firings, the department released a 900-page report accusing the Biden-era Justice Department of improperly targeting anti-abortion activists through FACE Act prosecutions. Doddamani’s lawsuit says the report made unsubstantiated accusations, disclosed internal department material normally shielded from public view and was produced without involvement from the Justice Department’s nonpartisan Office of the Inspector General.

“Unlawful terminations are a frequent tool of the Trump Administration to achieve its political aims,” the lawsuit says. “DOJ officials have repeatedly attempted to justify firings and workforce reductions by portraying the employees targeted as culpable for the now-disfavored cases they had been assigned.”

Doddamani primarily handled civil cases as a federal prosecutor, though she also worked on some criminal matters. In 2023, she was assigned to the trial team in United States v. Zastrow, a case charging eight defendants in Sterling Heights, Michigan, with FACE Act violations and violations of the federal civil rights conspiracy statute. All eight defendants were convicted at trial.

The complaint says the administration’s stated rationale for firing Doddamani mischaracterized the defendants in FACE Act cases as “peaceful, pro-life” defendants. “In reality, those individuals engaged in violent acts such as firebombing and arson, coordinated blockades that prevented patients from entering clinics, or made threats of violence,” her lawyers wrote.

Early in President Trump’s second term, he pardoned many FACE Act defendants convicted during the Biden administration, including 23 people convicted under the statute, according to NPR. The Justice Department also dismissed several other FACE Act cases and ordered prosecutors to pause future investigations, saying it would enforce the law only in extraordinary circumstances, such as cases involving death or serious property damage. CBS News reported that the department has allowed remaining FACE Act cases involving abortion rights activists to proceed, including one Florida-based defendant who received a 120-day prison term in March 2025.

Doddamani says she suffered “adverse and harmful effects” from her firing, including lost or jeopardized financial opportunities and reputational harm. Her lawsuit seeks a declaration that her rights were violated, reinstatement, back pay and other relief. Defendants include Attorney General Todd Blanche, Gorgon, Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys Director Francey Hakes and several federal agencies and offices.