Former pardon attorney challenges firing after refusing to restore Mel Gibson’s gun rights

Former U.S. pardon attorney Liz Oyer is suing the Department of Justice (DOJ) over her termination, which took place last year after she refused to recommend that actor Mel Gibson have his gun rights restored.

Oyer was dismissed in March 2025, one of many in an early wave of dismissals and reassignments at the DOJ in the first few months of the Trump administration.

“Shortly after President Trump took office, Ms. Oyer was asked to disregard her duties and facilitate a political favor for the actor Mel Gibson, based on Mr. Gibson’s relationship with President Trump. Ms. Oyer was asked to make it seem like an independent review had concluded that Mr. Gibson, who was convicted of a domestic violence offense, should have his gun rights restored,” states the suit , which was filed on Oyer’s behalf through the nonprofit Democracy Forward.

“Ms. Oyer had serious concerns about the public safety implications of granting Mr. Gibson’s request in light of his history of domestic violence and the well-documented dangers of placing firearms in the hands of domestic abusers.” Like others fired under the Trump administration, Oyer received a short termination notice saying she was being fired under the president’s authority as granted by Article 2 of the Constitution, the article that establishes the presidency.

That process failed to follow various protections afforded to civil servants, including 30 days’ notice and the opportunity to respond in writing and receive “a written decision specifying the reasons for the removal.”

“This case is about much more than what happened to me. All Americans rely on nonpartisan civil servants to keep them safe and to uphold the law without fear or favor. I was fired because I refused to put politics ahead of my duty to the American people. My firing violated my constitutional and statutory rights, and it also jeopardized public safety,” Oyer said in a statement.

“That is not how the Department of Justice is supposed to operate, and it is not how public servants in this country should be treated. If career officials like me can be fired for refusing to bend the rules to serve the president’s friends, then the message to every public servant is clear: loyalty to a politician matters more than loyalty to the Constitution. I cannot accept that.”

The suit also argues that her termination violated her First Amendment rights because the removal was based on Oyer’s perceived political affiliation given her hiring under the Biden administration.

After filing Oyer, Trump installed Ed Martin as the pardon attorney . Martin, a conservative activist who represented a number of Jan. 6 rioters, had previously been nominated to serve as a U.S. attorney but failed to advance in the Senate over concerns about his work on behalf of such clients.

The suit says Oyer is bringing her claims to court after an earlier filing before the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) effectively stalled.

“The MSPB has proved, however, to be a dead end. Despite filing her MSPB appeal more than sixteen months ago, she has yet to receive any substantive review of her termination,” Thursday’s court filing states, adding that her case was recently punted again, “sending her case to a further prolonged limbo.”

“In March 2026, the MSPB also issued a decision broadly holding that it lacks jurisdiction in many cases in which the appellant employee was removed in a purported exercise of Article II authority, rather than” through the Civil Service Reform Act.