Former federal prosecutor fired over FACE Act case sues DOJ for unlawful termination

Washington — A former federal prosecutor who was fired earlier this year for her previous work on a case against activists accused of blocking an entrance to an abortion clinic sued the Justice Department on Monday, arguing her ouster was driven by unlawful political retaliation.

Sunita Doddamani, previously an ***istant U.S. attorney in the Eastern District of Michigan, was one of at least three career prosecutors who lost their jobs in April — just one day before the Justice Department released a 900-page report alleging that the Biden-era DOJ improperly targeted anti-abortion activists for prosecution.

On the day of her firing, Doddamani immediately lost access to her DOJ phone and email and was blocked out of the building, the lawsuit said.

Later that day, Jerome Gorgon, the U.S. attorney for Michigan’s Eastern District, announced in an office meeting that Doddamani and another prosecutor had been fired for alleged “misconduct,” though he also professed to have no prior knowledge of their terminations or the reasons behind them, according to the lawsuit.

Doddamani’s lawyers argued her termination was “politically motivated and retaliatory” because she worked on a prosecution under the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, or FACE Act, at her superiors’ direction that the current administration opposed on partisan grounds. 

Her termination, they said, violates the Civil Service Reform Act, the Administrative Procedure Act and the First and Fifth Amendments to the Constitution.

“Unlawful terminations are a frequent tool of the Trump administration to achieve its political aims,” the lawsuit said. “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 ***igned.”

A Justice Department spokesperson declined to comment beyond the department’s prior statement about the terminations 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.”

The FACE Act makes it a crime to block a person from accessing reproductive health clinics. The law was p***ed by Congress in 1994 to address rising concerns about threats and intimidation that women were facing at reproductive health clinics. Nonviolent and first-time offenses of the law are misdemeanors, while repeat offenses or violations that result in bodily injury or death can be treated as felonies.

Doddamani’s lawyers said that she “suffered adverse and harmful effects from her termination, including, but not limited to, lost or jeopardized present or future financial opportunities and reputational harm.” 

The lawsuit, which was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, named as defendants Attorney General Todd Blanche; Gorgon; Francey Hakes, the director of the Executive Office for the U.S. Attorneys; and several federal agencies and offices.

Doddamani primarily worked on civil cases during her tenure as a federal prosecutor, though she was also involved in some criminal work. In 2023, she was ***igned to serve on a trial team in a case called United States v. Zastrow, which charged eight defendants in Sterling Heights, Michigan, for FACE Act violations and violations of the federal civil rights conspiracy statute.

All eight of the defendants were convicted at trial.

The Trump administration has long alleged, with scant evidence, that the Biden-era Civil Rights Division used the FACE Act to intentionally target conservative Christians who are morally opposed to abortion.

Although the Biden Justice Department did also pursue criminal charges against abortion rights activists who were accused of trying to scare volunteers and workers at a crisis pregnancy clinic that counseled on alternatives to abortion, the DOJ’s FACE Act report said the total number of such cases was minimal compared to those targeting conservative anti-abortion Christians.

Early in President Trump’s second term, he pardoned many of the FACE Act defendants convicted during the Biden administration. The Justice Department also dismissed several other FACE Act cases and ordered prosecutors to put the brakes on future FACE Act investigations. 

At the same time, however, the current Justice Department has allowed the remaining FACE Act cases involving abortion rights activists to proceed without interference, with one Florida-based defendant receiving a 120-day prison term in March 2025.

The DOJ’s April FACE Act report represented the first work product from the Weaponization Working Group, a loosely organized initiative created by former Attorney General Pam Bondi.

In the lawsuit, Doddamani’s lawyers criticized the report, saying it made unsubstantiated accusations and revealed internal DOJ material that is usually shielded from public view.

“The FACE Act report is an unusual do***ent because it reveals internal communications that DOJ typically closely guards from public view. And although DOJ’s nonpartisan Office of the Inspector General (OIG) traditionally is responsible for reviewing the Department’s work for misconduct, OIG had no role in producing the FACE Act report,” the lawsuit said.

It also said the report mischaracterized the nature of the defendants charged in the FACE Act cases highlighted by falsely referring to them 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,” Doddamani’s lawyers said.