Jackson, an Obama appointee, stressed that she was not ruling on whether Strzok’s firing “was the appropriate sanction” for his conduct, only that the voluminous evidence assembled over years of litigation — including a deposition of Trump himself — had not proven Strzok’s rights were violated.

Jackson’s full ruling is under seal, for now. But she disclosed a summary Tuesday that showed she also rejected Strzok’s argument that he had struck a binding deal with a top FBI disciplinary official under which Strzok would have been demoted and suspended for 60 days. The FBI’s deputy director at the time, David Bowdich, nixed that arrangement and fired Strzok.

Strzok, who worked as an agent for the FBI for 22 years before his firing, can appeal Jackson’s decision to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals. His attorney, Aitan Goelman, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The ruling ends one chapter in one of the lengthiest legal sagas stemming from Trump’s first term, when he grew increasingly furious over the criminal and counterintelligence probes of his 2016 campaign’s contacts with Russia. The discovery of the anti-Trump text messages — including one in which Strzok suggested the FBI might “stop” Trump from becoming president — helped Trump cast those probes as a corrupt “witch hunt” and embroil the bureau in years of controversy.

The imbroglio became tabloid fodder, as well, after it was revealed that Strzok and the FBI lawyer with whom he exchanged many of the texts, Lisa Page, were having an affair at the time. Trump seized on that aspect of the story and mounted numerous attacks on Strzok and Page on social media and in public, sometimes disparaging Page in crude terms.

Strzok has long denied that his personal views about Trump influenced his actions on the job, and a lengthy inspector general review found no evidence that the Russia probe was affected by bias. But the saga helped Trump rally his supporters and regain his footing after a rocky start to his presidency.