Federal Court: Justice Department Must Rehire Maurene Comey

U.S. District Judge Jesse Furman issued a ruling on Monday that reverses the July 2025 termination of Maurene Comey, a former Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Southern District of New York. The decision mandates that the Justice Department restore her to her position and provide compensation for the period she was out of work.

The court determined that Comey, the daughter of former FBI Director James Comey, was unlawfully dismissed. Furman concluded that the department's actions breached the separation of powers and violated her Fifth Amendment due process rights. He stated that allowing career prosecutors to be fired at will would disrupt the constitutional balance established by the nation's founding documents.

The order grants Comey back pay from her termination date through December 20, 2025. That date marks when she started a new job. The ruling specifically addresses the legal arguments presented by the Trump administration regarding executive authority over career civil servants.

A Justice Department spokesperson noted that the agency disagrees with the decision and plans to appeal in due course. Meanwhile, Comey’s legal team, including Ellen Blain, Nicole Gueron, Deepa Vanamali, and Margaret Donovan, released a joint statement. They described the outcome as a victory for civil servants and a reaffirmation that the President is not above the law.

Comey had spent nearly 10 years serving in the Southern District of New York. Her portfolio included high-profile prosecutions of Sean Combs, former Senator Bob Menendez, Jeffrey Epstein, and Ghislaine Maxwell. She filed her lawsuit in September 2025, arguing that the administration offered no legitimate reason for her firing.

In her filings, Comey alleged the removal was driven by President Donald Trump’s longstanding dispute with her father. Trump fired James Comey as FBI Director in 2017. Maurene Comey stated that her supervisor told her the decision came from Washington. A subsequent court filing by the Justice Department identified then-Attorney General Pam Bondi as the official who directed the removal.

Judge Furman found that Bondi failed to follow statutory procedures, thereby depriving Comey of due process. The judge wrote that while Congress gave the Attorney General the power to remove prosecutors, it also imposed specific limits on that power. He noted that the defendants conceded these limits were violated in Comey's case.

The Justice Department argued that Bondi held the authority to fire Comey at will without cause. The agency contended that Congress lacked the power to restrict that executive authority. Furman rejected this position, describing it as a sweeping theory of executive power that conflicts with nearly two centuries of Supreme Court precedent.

The ruling arrives as the administration continues to remove career federal prosecutors and FBI employees. These firings have often targeted individuals involved in investigations related to Trump or the January 6, 2021, Capitol attack. Furman noted that the department has used this new theory of executive power to remove other employees who previously held protections from removal.

The legal dispute extends to Comey's father, who faces a federal criminal case over a photograph of seashells. The government contends the image was a threat against Trump. A judge has delayed that trial until early 2027 to decide whether to dismiss the case. James Comey’s team argues the prosecution stems from retribution rather than a good-faith application of the law.