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A federal judge in New York has ruled that the Trump administration illegally fired Maurene Comey, a veteran Manhattan federal prosecutor and the daughter of former FBI Director James Comey, and ordered that she be reinstated retroactively with back pay.
U.S. District Judge Jesse Furman of the Southern District of New York issued a 55-page opinion on Monday, October 26, finding that Comey's July 2025 dismissal violated constitutional protections and federal statutory limits on removing prosecutors like her. He ordered her reinstated retroactively through December 20, 2025, making her eligible for back pay and retirement benefits tied to that period.
A decade of high-profile cases
Comey spent roughly a decade as an assistant U.S. attorney in the Southern District of New York, handling some of the office's most prominent cases, including the prosecutions connected to the late financier Jeffrey Epstein, his associate Ghislaine Maxwell, and music figure Sean Combs. Judge Furman noted that her work had drawn consistently strong praise from supervisors and colleagues.
Comey sued after her dismissal, arguing she was fired because of who her father is, because of political views attributed to her, or both. She said the only explanation she was given at the time was that the decision had come from Washington.
What the judge decided — and what he did not
Furman rejected the government's broad reading of executive power. The department had argued that, under Article II of the Constitution, the president and attorney general could remove federal prosecutors at will, and it sought to have Comey's lawsuit dismissed on the grounds that she should have taken her complaint to the Merit Systems Protection Board instead.
Furman found the federal court had jurisdiction because the firing rested on an Article II theory, and he held that Congress, while granting the attorney general power to remove prosecutors, imposed limits on that power — limits that, in his words, were violated in Comey's case. "Congress granted the Attorney General power to remove Comey," he wrote. "Congress imposed limits on that power — limits that, even Defendants concede, were violated in Comey's case."
He also rejected the department's claim that it had created a new, expansive theory of executive power, writing that to accept it "would be to unsettle the very equilibrium established by this Nation's constitutional system." Court filings showed former Attorney General Pam Bondi directed the removal, with Executive Office for United States Attorneys Director John Hakes signing the termination memorandum, and that a May 2026 memorandum by then-Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche purporting to ratify the decision did not cure the problem.
Furman distinguished Comey, an "inferior" officer subject to legal protections approved by Congress, from the "principal" officials covered by a Supreme Court decision in June that gave the president more power to fire heads of nominally independent agencies at will.
Two questions remain open. Furman did not decide whether Comey was fired because she is James Comey's daughter, and he did not finally resolve her First Amendment claim, reserving it pending supplemental briefing from both sides. The ruling therefore does not appear to be immediately appealable on that claim.
The administration's response
The Justice Department said it disagrees with the decision, which it said "obstructs President Trump's constitutional authority to fire individuals who wield executive power on his behalf," and said it intends to appeal in due course.
The case now sits at the intersection of two larger fights: how far a president's removal power extends over career prosecutors, and whether courts will police firings that prosecutors say are driven by family ties or attributed politics. Bloomberg Law notes the broader question of removal power will likely be settled by higher courts — but for now, a federal judge has said this firing crossed a line Congress drew.
Sources: Associated Press via HR News Canada (ruling, reinstatement); BBC via World Right Now (55-page opinion, back pay, Epstein/Maxwell/Combs cases); New York Post (Furman quotes, DOJ appeal statement, inferior-officer distinction); NPR via OK! Magazine (Article II argument, Merit Systems Protection Board, Blanche ratification memo); Bloomberg Law (higher-court outlook); Daily Caller (separation of powers and due process findings, unresolved First Amendment claim, retroactive reinstatement date). Allegations about the motive for the firing are attributed to Comey; the judge did not decide that question.