Federal Judge Rules Maurene Comey’s DOJ Firing Unlawful

A federal judge ruled Monday that the Justice Department unlawfully fired former federal prosecutor Maurene Comey and ordered her retroactively reinstated with back pay.

U.S. District Judge Jesse Furman found that Comey’s July 2025 dismissal violated the constitutional separation of powers, her due-process rights and federal civil-service law. Comey, the daughter of former FBI Director James Comey, had served for nearly a decade as an assistant U.S. attorney in the Southern District of New York.

The Trump administration argued that the president’s constitutional authority allowed the attorney general to dismiss federal prosecutors at will and that Congress could not restrict that power. Furman rejected those arguments, writing that the government’s position conflicted with nearly two centuries of Supreme Court precedent and would disrupt the constitutional balance of powers.

The ruling reinstates Comey retroactively and awards her back pay from her July 16, 2025, termination through Dec. 20, 2025, when she began another job. The court did not resolve her separate First Amendment claim.

Comey worked on several prominent prosecutions, including cases involving Jeffrey Epstein, Ghislaine Maxwell, Sean “Diddy” Combs and former Sen. Robert Menendez. She sued after receiving no stated reason for her dismissal, which the government later said had been directed by then-Attorney General Pam Bondi.

A Justice Department spokesperson said the department disagrees with the ruling and intends to appeal. Comey’s lawyers called the decision a victory for civil servants and constitutional checks and balances.