In January 2006, Barry testified before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee in support of the nomination of her colleague Samuel Alito to the U.S. Supreme Court.

She took senior status in June 2011, and announced her retirement from the bench in February 2019 after an investigation was launched into allegations that she had committed judicial misconduct by participating in fraudulent tax and financial transactions.

[4]: 243  She graduated cum laude with a BA from Mount Holyoke College in 1958,[5][6][4]: 244  and an MA in public law and government from Columbia University in 1962.

[1] In 1989, while a district court judge in Newark, New Jersey, she disapproved a plea bargain that would have freed two county detectives accused of protecting a drug dealer, and forced the case to trial.

She also presided over the conviction of Louis Manna, the Genovese crime family mobster accused of plotting to assassinate rival John Gotti.

[1] A Republican, Barry was nominated to serve on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit by Democratic President Bill Clinton[1] on June 17, 1999.

[12] Barry told the New Jersey Law Journal in 1999 that she was "deeply honored and very grateful for the nomination" and was "surprised [to be] approached on it", stating, "I assume that my record is good enough as a district court judge to be reached out to, and I'm glad that politics weren't a priority here".

[15] In January 2006, Barry testified to support the appointment of fellow Third Circuit Judge Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court.

[16] In a 2006 ruling, Abou Cham v. Attorney General, Barry was harshly critical of the conduct of a U.S. Immigration Court judge in a case involving a refugee from The Gambia.

The refugee petitioner was the nephew of former Gambian president Dawda Jawara, who had been deposed in a coup in 1994; the new regime had imprisoned or killed several of Cham's relatives and outlawed their political party.

Her retirement ended an investigation of whether she had engaged in fraudulent tax schemes with her siblings that violated judicial conduct rules.

[25] Investigative journalist Susanne Craig discovered a filing Barry had made to the U.S. Senate as part of her federal judiciary confirmation in 1983, in which she had reported a $1 million contribution from All County Building Supply & Maintenance.

[26] The Times reported that All County Building Supply & Maintenance was a "sham company" formed in 1992[26] and owned by Barry, Donald Trump, their siblings and a cousin.

[26][Notes 1] In a follow-up article, The New York Times reported that the money illicitly earned by All County was split by the Trump siblings.

[27] In October 2018, as a result of the publication of this investigation, the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance began a review of the fraud allegations against Barry and her siblings.

[8] In the recordings, Barry also criticized her brother's family separation policy and the bankruptcies of his businesses, adding that "you can't trust him".