Case: Pappas v. Blanche

(This summary is temporary while we research the case further). An individual plaintiff, who was born in Greece, filed suit on May 14, 2026, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts against the Acting Attorney General and the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ). The plaintiff had been appointed as an Immigration Judge with the DOJ's Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) at the Boston and Chelmsford, Massachusetts Immigration Courts on July 23, 2023, on a two-year probationary term. He alleged that he exceeded all performance standards and received the highest performance ratings throughout his tenure, yet on July 11, 2025, EOIR notified him that his appointment would not be converted to a permanent position and that he would be terminated effective July 22, 2025. The plaintiff alleged that his termination was part of a broader pattern: of the 38 judges in his July 2023 cohort, an estimated 20 were not converted, and every judge with a Hispanic, Middle Eastern, or South Asian surname was terminated or not converted. He further alleged that the terminations were driven by EOIR memoranda issued in 2025 expressing hostility toward noncitizens and immigration advocacy, and that judges with exclusively prosecutorial backgrounds were converted while those with immigrant-advocacy backgrounds were not. The plaintiff brought claims under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA), and the First Amendment, alleging discrimination based on his Greek national origin, his age, his association with Hispanic and Latin American individuals, and his association with immigrant rights organizations, and he sought reinstatement, compensatory damages, lost pay and benefits, declaratory relief, and attorneys' fees.