A prominent Summit County attorney is suing the U.S. Department of Justice and U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, alleging she was fired as an immigration judge 15 days into Donald Trump’s second term as president because she’s a woman, a daughter of Lebanese immigrants and previously ran for office as a Democrat.
In a complaint in Washington, D.C., federal court, attorneys for Tania Nemer call her unexplained removal from the Cleveland Immigration Court earlier this year an “unprecedented assault” by the Trump administration on anti-discrimination laws “that protect millions of federal employees.” She’s hoping to get her job back and to get a declaration from the court that the federal government acted unconstitutionally.
Nemer now works as a deputy chief in the tax division of the Summit County Prosecutor’s Office, where she previously spent three years as community outreach prosecutor before becoming a magistrate in the probate court. Prior to joining the county the first time, she was a magistrate in Akron Municipal Court and an immigration attorney with the Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Cleveland. Registered as a Democrat, she unsuccessfully ran for a judge seat in the Stow Municipal Court in 2019.
She applied for the immigration judge position when Joe Biden was president and was appointed by then-Attorney General Merrick Garland in July of 2023.
Documents show that the Trump administration ousted her on Feb. 5, citing Article II of the U.S. Constitution, which establishes the authority of the executive branch of the federal government. Trump was sworn in on Jan. 20, and Nemer’s attorneys say the quick firing was a “rushed attempt” by his administration to target disfavored civil servants.
‘The stakes are extraordinary’
Nemer filed a discrimination complaint with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Office, which upheld the firing, declaring the president has the executive authority to make those choices regardless of Title VII prohibitions on employment discrimination based on “race, color, religion, sex and national origin.”
“The stakes are extraordinary,” Nemer’s complaint states. “According to the agency decision, the President may now fire” a woman just for being a woman, a child of immigrants just because of national origin, and a Democrat just for having different political affiliations, “and the courts would be powerless to act.”
In an affidavit connected to the EEO decision, controversial Acting Director of the Executive Office for Immigration Review Sirce E. Owen rejected the notion that Nemer was discriminated against. Owen disclosed two income tax-related cases filed against Nemer in 2010 and 2011 in Lakewood Municipal Court and a 2019 state tax lien filed against her in the Summit County Court of Common Pleas (updated clarification: Owen’s affidavit highlighted these issues but never claimed that’s why she was fired).
Nemer’s lawyers say she was unaware of the lien until 2024, and the lien was for a “penalty fee” on “improperly processed documentation” about her nanny from a payroll company. Owen also highlighted a 2004 (update: Signal Akron previously incorrectly reported the year as 2024) reckless driving conviction and her “numerous” traffic tickets dating back to 1999.
“I am not aware of anyone similarly situated as the Complainant who worked as an Immigration Judge and was treated more favorably by not being terminated,” Owen wrote.
Nemer’s attorneys say her previous issues had been thoroughly vetted during her initial appointment processes and called the affidavit “a vague and evasive narrative that raised more questions than it answered.”
The complaint says Nemer was not fired because of those allegations and that Owen “deliberately structured her response to create a false impression of justification while avoiding direct misstatements under oath. This calculated evasiveness demonstrates that Owen knew the real reasons for Ms. Nemer’s termination were discriminatory and unlawful.”