Photo Illustration by CNN

Shira Levine was on her third case of the day. By the afternoon, she had already presided over two immigration cases in a San Francisco courtroom and was in the middle of another — this one, about an asylum claim.

As she took notes on her computer, a notification popped up on her screen. Levine had been terminated from her job as an immigration judge.

“I see what it is. I ask for a quick break for the parties. I step out and decide for myself that this is unprecedented,” she recalled in an interview with CNN.

Asylum cases take years to resolve in immigration court and the one before Levine was no exception. It was about to end abruptly — with no resolution.

“With my apologies, I’m going to end the case,” she recalled saying when she re-entered the courtroom,

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