U.S. District Judge Jesse Furman ordered the retroactive reinstatement and back pay of former federal prosecutor Maurene Comey on Monday after ruling that the Donald Trump administration acted unlawfully when it fired her in July 2025.
Judge Rules Firing Violated Separation of Powers
In a 55-page decision, Judge Jesse Furman found that the Justice Department unlawfully fired Maurene Comey, a veteran prosecutor in the Southern District of New York and the eldest daughter of former FBI Director James Comey. Furman, who was appointed to the bench by then-Barack Obama in 2012, wrote that accepting the government’s stance would unsettle the equilibrium established by the nation’s constitutional system.
The court ordered the Trump administration to provide Maurene Comey back pay effective from the date of her termination through Dec. 20, 2025, when she began a new job. She subsequently filed a lawsuit in September 2025 challenging the Department of Justice over her termination, arguing that she lost her position because of her father’s identity and his long-running disputes with the president.
JUST IN: Maurene Comey's firing by DOJ was illegal and she must be orders retroactively reinstated w back pay, a judge rules."To accept Defendants’ argument would be to unsettle the very equilibrium established by this Nation’s constitutional system"https://t.co/LNAUuVSuji pic.twitter.com/ltmCD1uS2m
Prosecutor Loses Job After Decade at Manhattan Office
Before her ouster, Maurene Comey had worked for nearly a decade at the Manhattan federal office, building a reputation as a career prosecutor who handled high-stakes criminal trials.
In July 2025, she received an abrupt memorandum stating that she was removed from federal service effective immediately, with her boss telling her only that the order came from Washington. Later court disclosures revealed that then-Attorney General Pam Bondi had directed her removal, and her successor, Todd Blanche, subsequently ratified the decision. When she was ousted, she circulated a sharp parting note to her colleagues at the U.S. Attorney’s Office warning about the chilling effect of arbitrary firings across federal law enforcement and urging colleagues to maintain their dedication to truth and justice for victims.
If a career prosecutor can be fired without reason, fear may seep into the decisions of those who remain.
Maurene Comey, former Assistant U.S. Attorney
Court Rejects Administration Defense on Executive Authority
The administration argued in court filings that assistant U.S. attorneys exercise executive authority when representing the federal government in criminal cases and can be removed without a specific reason by the president or attorney general. Government lawyers relied in part on a Supreme Court decision allowing the president to fire members of certain independent agencies without cause, which overturned a more than 90-year-old precedent.
Judge Furman rejected that defense as a sweeping and unprecedented theory of executive authority that ignored statutory limits imposed by Congress on the removal of assistant U.S. attorneys.
This hard-earned victory belongs to Ms. Comey, to all civil servants, and to all fighting for the rule of law.
Attorneys for Maurene Comey
The 55-page decision addresses a dispute stemming from a July 2025 memorandum that terminated Maurene Comey from her post at the Manhattan federal office.
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