Judge rules Justice Department unlawfully fired Manhattan prosecutor Maurene Comey

A federal judge in Manhattan ruled Monday that the Justice Department broke the law when it fired Maurene Comey, a longtime prosecutor in the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York and the daughter of former FBI Director James Comey.

In a 55-page decision, U.S. District Judge Jesse Furman found that her removal violated the constitutional separation of powers and the Civil Service Reform Act, the 1978 law that protects federal workers, CBS News reported. ABC7 reported that he also found violations of the Administrative Procedure Act and of Comey's due-process rights.

What the judge ordered

• Reinstatement on paper: Comey is retroactively reinstated as an assistant U.S. attorney.
• Back pay: from her firing on July 16, 2025, through Dec. 20, 2025, when she accepted a job in the private sector, CNBC reported.

"Yes, the Attorney General is authorized by law to remove an AUSA," Furman wrote, according to ABC7, but only "in a particular manner and only for certain reasons."

The administration's argument

The Trump administration argued that Article II of the Constitution gives the president unrestricted power to remove federal prosecutors, and leaned in part on the Supreme Court's June decision letting the president fire members of some independent agencies without cause. Furman called that a "sweeping and unprecedented theory of executive authority" and wrote that accepting it would "unsettle the very equilibrium established by this Nation's constitutional system," CBS reported.

He also rejected the argument that the firing itself amounted to a finding of cause, writing that it "borders on frivolous," according to CNBC. The department had admitted in filings that Comey's performance reviews were rated "outstanding" from 2019 through 2024, CBS reported.

"The Department disagrees with this decision and will appeal in due course," a Justice Department spokesperson said. The SDNY U.S. Attorney's Office declined to comment, ABC7 reported. Comey's lawyers called the ruling "a hard-earned victory" for her and all civil servants.

Background

Comey had been a federal prosecutor in Manhattan since 2015, working on the cases against Jeffrey Epstein, Ghislaine Maxwell, Sean "Diddy" Combs and former Sen. Robert Menendez. She was dismissed by a memo from Justice Department headquarters that gave no reason. In May, the administration said then-Attorney General Pam Bondi had directed the firing and that her successor, Todd Blanche, ratified it, CBS reported. Comey's lawsuit argued she was fired because President Trump dislikes her father; Furman's ruling rested on other grounds, CNBC reported.