Judge rules Maurene Comey was unlawfully fired, orders DOJ to reinstate her
A federal judge in New York ruled that the Justice Department illegally fired prosecutor Maurene Comey in 2025 and ordered her reinstated with back pay, rejecting the administration's claim that it can dismiss career prosecutors at will.
At a glance
- US District Judge Jesse Furman ruled on Monday, October 26, 2026, that the Justice Department unlawfully fired Maurene Comey, a former federal prosecutor in Manhattan, in July 2025.
- The judge found the firing violated the separation of powers, her Fifth Amendment due-process rights and the federal civil-service law that protects career employees.
- He ordered her reinstated with back pay from her firing on July 16, 2025, to December 20, 2025, when she started a new job, and ordered her personnel file to show she resigned.
- The Justice Department said it disagrees with the decision and will appeal. A separate First Amendment claim has not yet been decided.
- Comey, the daughter of former FBI director James Comey, worked on the Jeffrey Epstein, Ghislaine Maxwell and Sean Combs cases.
A federal judge in New York ruled on Monday, October 26, 2026, that the US Justice Department unlawfully fired Maurene Comey, a veteran prosecutor and the daughter of former FBI director James Comey, and ordered that she be reinstated with back pay. US District Judge Jesse Furman rejected the Trump administration's argument that the attorney general can remove career prosecutors at will, for any reason. The department said it will appeal.
What the judge ruled
Judge Furman, of the US District Court for the Southern District of New York, found that Comey's dismissal in July 2025 broke the law on several grounds. He held that it violated the constitutional separation of powers, her Fifth Amendment right to due process, and her rights under the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978, the law that gives career federal employees protection against arbitrary removal. He also found it violated the Administrative Procedure Act.
The court called the government's position a sweeping and unprecedented theory of executive power that conflicts with nearly two centuries of Supreme Court precedent. Congress, the judge wrote, has placed limits on the removal power, and the government had conceded that those limits were not followed in Comey's case.
| Part of the ruling | Decision |
|---|---|
| Lawfulness of firing | Unlawful |
| Legal grounds | Separation of powers, Fifth Amendment due process, Civil Service Reform Act, Administrative Procedure Act |
| Reinstatement | Ordered, as assistant US attorney in Manhattan, if she chooses |
| Back pay | From July 16, 2025, to December 20, 2025 |
| Personnel record | To be changed to show she resigned, not that she was fired |
| First Amendment claim | Not yet decided; further briefing ordered |
| Government response | Justice Department will appeal |
The back pay runs only to December 20, 2025, the date the court found she had started a new job. Comey now works in private practice and has not said she wants to return to government service.
How she was fired
Comey spent almost 10 years in the US Attorney's Office in Manhattan, one of the country's most prominent federal prosecutors' offices. She worked on some of its best-known cases, including the sex-trafficking prosecutions of Jeffrey Epstein and his associate Ghislaine Maxwell, the case against music mogul Sean "Diddy" Combs and the corruption trial of former New Jersey senator Bob Menendez.
She was dismissed on July 16, 2025, with no explanation. Comey said her supervisor told her only that the decision "came from Washington". In later court filings, the Justice Department said the removal was ordered by then-Attorney General Pam Bondi under the president's constitutional powers over the executive branch.
Comey sued in September 2025, saying there was no legitimate reason for her firing and arguing it was driven by President Donald Trump's long-running feud with her father. Trump fired James Comey as FBI director in 2017, and the Justice Department has since brought criminal charges against him. The government argued that the attorney general had full authority to remove her for any reason and that Congress could not limit that power. The judge rejected that argument.
Reactions
A Justice Department spokesperson said the department "disagrees with this decision and will appeal in due course."
Comey's lawyers said the ruling reaffirms the country's system of checks and balances and that the victory belongs to their client, to all civil servants and to everyone fighting for the rule of law.
Why it matters
The case is one of the first in which a court has ruled in full on the administration's claim that it may fire career government lawyers without following civil-service rules. Since early 2025, the Justice Department has removed a number of career prosecutors and FBI employees, many of them linked to investigations of Trump or to the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot cases. Judge Furman noted that the same theory of removal power has been used against other protected employees.
If the ruling stands on appeal, other dismissed federal workers could use it to challenge their own removals. If it is overturned, it would strengthen the president's control over the career civil service, a central question in the wider legal fight over how far presidential removal powers reach.
The ruling is also politically sensitive because of its links to the Epstein case, which remains a subject of intense public interest in the United States, and to the separate prosecution of James Comey.
What happens next
- Appeal: The Justice Department is expected to take the case to the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, which could pause the reinstatement order while it considers the appeal.
- First Amendment claim: Judge Furman has not ruled on Comey's argument that she was fired for politically protected reasons. He has asked for more legal briefs on that question.
- James Comey's case: The separate criminal case against her father, which the Justice Department brought over a social media post it says threatened the president, is delayed until at least early 2027 while a judge considers a request to dismiss it.
Questions people are asking
Why was Maurene Comey fired?
The Justice Department never gave her a reason; she was told only that the decision came from Washington. The department later said in court that then-Attorney General Pam Bondi ordered her removal, and on October 26, 2026, a federal judge ruled the firing was unlawful.
Will Maurene Comey go back to the Justice Department?
The judge ordered her reinstated as an assistant US attorney in Manhattan if she chooses to return, with back pay. She has since taken a job in private practice, and the Justice Department says it will appeal the ruling.
Who is Maurene Comey?
Maurene Comey is a former federal prosecutor who spent nearly 10 years in the US Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York. She worked on the cases against Jeffrey Epstein, Ghislaine Maxwell, Sean Combs and former senator Bob Menendez, and she is the daughter of former FBI director James Comey.
