Judge Rules DOJ Unlawfully Fired Prosecutor Maurene Comey, Orders Back Pay Through December 2025
A federal judge in Manhattan ruled on Monday that the Justice Department broke the law when it fired Maurene Comey, a longtime federal prosecutor and the daughter of former FBI Director James Comey, in July 2025.
U.S. District Judge Jesse M. Furman of the Southern District of New York found that the firing violated the Civil Service Reform Act and the constitutional separation of powers. In a 55-page opinion, he granted Comey retroactive reinstatement and back pay from the day she was fired, July 16, 2025, through Dec. 20, 2025, the date the judge said he infers she accepted another job, which she still holds.
Furman was nominated to the bench by President Barack Obama in 2011 and confirmed by the Senate in 2012.
What the Judge Ordered
Comey did not ask to return to the U.S. Attorney's Office, and the order does not send her back. Instead, the ruling treats her as having stayed on the payroll until Dec. 20, 2025, and then left.
The relief she asked for, and the judge granted, includes back pay for that period; restored employer and employee contributions to her Thrift Savings Plan retirement account, with interest and earnings; service credit showing more than 10 years of federal service; and a corrected personnel record, including her SF-50 form, showing that she resigned on Dec. 20, 2025, rather than being fired on July 16, 2025.
Furman wrote that the relief "will make her whole for the period during which she was unlawfully terminated and ensure that she suffers no adverse employment consequences for her unlawful termination."
The judge also issued a declaration that the government violated the separation of powers, the Administrative Procedure Act and her due process and statutory rights. He has not yet set the dollar amount of back pay, and he has not ruled on her request for legal fees and costs.
How Maurene Comey Was Fired
Comey served as an assistant U.S. attorney in Manhattan from November 2015 until July 2025. According to the opinion, she worked on cases involving Jeffrey Epstein, Ghislaine Maxwell, Sean "Diddy" Combs and former Sen. Robert Menendez.
At 4:57 p.m. on July 16, 2025, she received an email with a one-page memo signed by Francey Hakes, director of the Executive Office for United States Attorneys. It said she was removed from federal service "effective immediately," citing only "Article II of the United States Constitution and the laws of the United States." The personnel form that followed listed the legal authority as "ART II CONSTITUTION."
Comey sued in September 2025. She alleges she was fired "solely or substantially" because of who her father is, or because of her perceived political views, or both. President Trump fired James Comey as FBI director in 2017, and the two have criticized each other publicly since.
The government's own court papers conceded key facts. In its answer filed May 26, 2026, the Justice Department admitted that Comey got no notice, no reason and no chance to respond before she was fired, and that her removal "was not 'for cause' and was not based on her performance." The department said then-Attorney General Pam Bondi directed the firing and that Todd Blanche, as acting attorney general, later ratified it in a May 26, 2026, memo.
The Article II Argument
The Justice Department argued that federal law lets the attorney general remove assistant U.S. attorneys at will, and that any limit Congress puts on firing federal prosecutors would intrude on the president's power under Article II of the Constitution.
Furman rejected both arguments. He wrote that while the attorney general does have the power to remove an assistant U.S. attorney, the Civil Service Reform Act requires that it be done only "for such cause as will promote the efficiency of the service," and only with notice and a chance to respond. He said Comey's removal "indisputably violated" that law.
On the constitutional question, Furman wrote that the government's position "flies in the face of nearly two centuries of Supreme Court precedent" allowing Congress to limit the removal of lower-level officers, and that "to accept Defendants' argument would be to unsettle the very equilibrium established by this Nation's constitutional system." He added that a lower court is bound to follow those Supreme Court precedents unless the Supreme Court itself overturns them.
What Is Still Undecided
The ruling is not a full win for Comey. Furman sided with the government on one claim, which argued the firing was beyond the government's legal authority (an "ultra vires" claim). He dismissed four more claims, including two due process claims tied to her reputation.
He also held off on her First Amendment claim, which alleges she was fired over her father or her perceived politics. He wrote that deciding it could raise "thorny constitutional issues," including executive privilege, and ordered Comey to file a brief by Nov. 9, 2026, explaining why that claim should not be dismissed. The government has one week to respond. Pretrial discovery is on hold.
A Justice Department spokesperson said in a statement that the department "disagrees with this decision and will appeal in due course," NBC News and CNBC reported. An appeal would go to the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and would come after Furman enters a final judgment in the case, CNBC reported. As of Monday afternoon, no notice of appeal had been filed on the docket.
In a statement to The Digital Free Press, Ms. Comey's attorneys, Ellen Blain, Nicole Gueron, Deepa Vanamali and Margaret Donovan, said: "This hard-earned victory belongs to Ms. Comey, to all civil servants, and to all fighting for the rule of law. As the Court correctly held, to accept the government's argument about unlimited executive power 'would be to unsettle the very equilibrium established by this Nation's constitutional system.' This decision reaffirms our bedrock system of checks and balances: the President is not above the law."
Comey wrote in a note to colleagues after she was fired, as reported by CNBC: "If a career prosecutor can be fired without reason, fear may seep into the decisions of those who remain."
The Digital Free Press reached out to the Justice Department and Ms. Comey's attorneys for comment on Oct. 26. Ms. Comey's attorneys responded with the statement above. The Justice Department had not commented directly to The Digital Free Press as of Monday evening; its statement above was issued publicly.
Images: Thurgood Marshall United States Courthouse, Kidfly182, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0; Robert F. Kennedy Department of Justice Building, APK, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0.
Yossi Schmidt, Founder and Editor-in-Chief, The Digital Free Press
Hold Everyone Accountable.
Sources: U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, Comey v. U.S. Department of Justice, No. 25-cv-7625 (JMF), Opinion and Order, ECF No. 96, Oct. 26, 2026: https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.649409/gov.uscourts.nysd.649409.96.0.pdf ; Case docket (CourtListener): https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/71348216/comey-v-united-states-department-of-justice/ ; Plaintiff's memorandum of law, ECF No. 77, July 17, 2026 (via Courthouse News): https://www.courthousenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/maurene-comey-doj-firing-plaintiff-memo-judgment-pleadings.pdf ; Reuters via U.S. News, "Trump Administration's Firing of Prosecutor Maurene Comey Was Unlawful, Judge Rules," Oct. 26, 2026: https://www.usnews.com/news/politics/articles/2026-10-26/trump-administrations-firing-of-prosecutor-maurene-comey-was-unlawful-judge-rules ; Associated Press via Daily News, Oct. 26, 2026: https://www.dailynews.com/2026/10/26/justice-department-maurene-comey-fired-unlawfully/ ; CNBC, Oct. 26, 2026: https://www.cnbc.com/2026/10/26/maurene-comey-firing-unlawful-trump.html ; NBC News, "Judge orders DOJ to reinstate former federal prosecutor Maurene Comey, daughter of ex-FBI director" (Oct. 26, 2026): https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/trump-administration/doj-justice-maurene-comey-court-reinstate-rcna605720 ; Courthouse News Service, Oct. 26, 2026: https://www.courthousenews.com/judge-finds-maurene-comey-was-unlawfully-fired-by-trumps-doj ; Federal Judicial Center, Jesse M. Furman biography: https://www.fjc.gov/history/judges/furman-jesse-matthew ; 5 U.S.C. 7513: https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/5/7513 ; 28 U.S.C. 542: https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/28/542
Comments