Judge Rules Justice Department Unlawfully Fired Prosecutor Maurene Comey

A federal judge in New York ruled Monday that the Justice Department unlawfully fired Maurene Comey, a former assistant U.S. attorney in Manhattan and the daughter of former FBI Director James Comey. Judge Jesse Furman ordered her retroactively reinstated with back pay, according to ABC News, CBS News and NBC News.

The Justice Department said it disagrees with the decision and will appeal. The ruling rejects the administration's argument that the president and his appointees can remove federal prosecutors for any reason at all.

What the judge decided

CBS News reported that Furman's decision runs 55 pages. He found that the July 2025 firing violated the constitutional separation of powers and federal law. NBC News reported that he also found violations of her Fifth Amendment due process rights, and ABC News said he cited the Administrative Procedure Act as well.

The reinstatement covers the period from her termination until Dec. 20, 2025, when she began a new job, according to CBS and NBC. ABC News described that as the point when she effectively resigned. Furman granted back pay for that period.

Comey's side

Comey sued in September 2025. According to NBC News, she argued the administration gave no legitimate explanation for dismissing her after almost 10 years of service. She alleged the firing stemmed from President Donald Trump's long-running grievance against her father, whom Trump fired as FBI director in 2017. CBS News reported that her complaint said she was removed without cause, advance notice or any chance to contest it.

Her attorneys, Ellen Blain, Nicole Gueron, Deepa Vanamali and Margaret Donovan, called the ruling a hard-earned victory for Comey and for all civil servants. They said it shows that "the President is not above the law."

The Justice Department's side

The Justice Department argued that Congress gave the attorney general power to remove assistant U.S. attorneys, and that the firing fell within it. CBS News reported that the administration also contended Article II of the Constitution gives the president unrestricted removal power, so Congress cannot limit the firing of federal prosecutors. ABC News said the department leaned on the Supreme Court's decision in Trump v. Slaughter, which allowed the firing of leaders of independent agencies, and on the Trump v. United States immunity case.

Earlier in the case, the department argued that Comey had to bring her claims to the Merit Systems Protection Board rather than to federal court. Furman rejected that argument, finding the court had jurisdiction because her firing rested on Article II rather than a civil service law, according to CBS News. In court filings, the department has called her claims a routine issue. It also acknowledged she received "outstanding" performance ratings from 2019 through 2024, CBS reported.

The administration said in May that then-Attorney General Pam Bondi directed the removal and that her successor, Todd Blanche, ratified it, according to CBS News.

Why the judge sided with Comey

Furman wrote that Congress did give the attorney general power to remove Comey but also set limits on it, and that even the defendants conceded those limits were violated, NBC News reported. He said the Civil Service Reform Act, enacted in 1978, restricts how and why such prosecutors can be removed.

He found that neither Slaughter nor the immunity case applies to so-called inferior officers, such as line prosecutors, according to ABC News. He called the government's position a "sweeping and unprecedented theory of executive authority" and said it conflicts with a line of Supreme Court decisions stretching back almost two centuries. CBS noted that Slaughter overturned a more than 90-year-old precedent on multimember agencies, but Furman did not treat it as controlling here.

What's at stake for federal prosecutors and other civil servants

The ruling bears on whether career government lawyers have legal protection from being dismissed without a stated reason. NBC News reported that the administration has routinely fired career prosecutors and FBI employees, particularly people tied to earlier investigations of Trump or to the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack inquiry. Furman noted that the administration used its theory to remove other executive branch employees who had long held removal protections. He said his declaration should help clarify or settle the legal issues.

CBS News reported that Comey's case is one of several filed by former government employees who were fired without cause. For Comey herself, the practical result is back pay for the period before she took a new job.

What happens next

The Justice Department said it will appeal "in due course." A spokesperson for the U.S. attorney's office in the Southern District of New York declined to comment, according to ABC News. Details on the timing or venue of the appeal were not provided.

Around Prague, based on reporting by ABC News, CBS News, NBC News