Firing of Comey's Daughter Maurene Was Unlawful, New York Judge Rules, Ordering Reinstatement and Back Pay

A New York federal judge ruled on Monday that the Justice Department unlawfully fired former prosecutor Maurene Comey, the daughter of ex-FBI Director James Comey.

Maurene Comey served as a federal prosecutor in Manhattan for around a decade, working on high-profile cases against defendants such as Sean 'Diddy' Combs, Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell.

The Trump Justice Department fired her in July 2025, despite her consistently receiving accolades from the department for her work. The Justice Department acknowledged in court filings that her firing was not for cause and was not based on her performance.

In response, she sued the Justice Department and others, arguing that her dismissal was unlawful and unconstitutional. Her lawsuit said she was fired because her father is the former FBI director, a prominent critic of President Trump.

The Justice Department argued that the attorney general had the authority to remove her under Article II of the Constitution. Judge Jesse Furman rejected that argument.

Judge Furman wrote that the defendants' argument that Article II bars Congress from regulating the removal of assistant US attorneys flies in the face of nearly two centuries of Supreme Court precedent. Accepting the administration's argument would unsettle the very equilibrium established by this nation's constitutional system, he wrote.

The judge also wrote that the Department of Justice invented a new and expansive theory of executive power in dismissing Maurene Comey, and violated her constitutional right to due process. While federal law gives the attorney general authority to fire assistant US attorneys, Congress placed limits on that power through the Civil Service Reform Act, which generally requires cause for termination and procedural protections. The judge found she received neither advance notice nor an opportunity to respond.

The ruling calls for Comey to receive back pay. According to Fox News, the judge ordered her retroactively reinstated and awarded back pay through December 20, 2025, when she accepted another job. According to NPR, she may return as a prosecutor to the Southern District of New York if she so chooses.

A Justice Department spokesperson said the department disagreed with the decision and would appeal it in due course.

Comey's lawyers praised Monday's ruling. In a statement to the Associated Press, they said the hard-earned victory belongs to their client and to all civil servants, and that the decision reaffirms the bedrock system of checks and balances: the president is not above the law.

The court's order is not final. Judge Furman has not yet ruled on Maurene Comey's First Amendment argument that she was fired for politically protected speech, and plans to hear further briefings on that claim.

Maurene Comey was the second in her family to be fired under Trump, after the president terminated her father as FBI director in 2017 during the Russia collusion investigation. The Justice Department has twice indicted the elder Comey. The first case was dismissed. The second prosecution, which is still pending, accuses him of threatening the president in a photo of seashells posted on social media.