Judge rules Trump administration illegally fired prosecutor Maurene Comey

A federal judge ruled Monday that the Trump administration illegally fired Maurene Comey, a career Justice Department prosecutor and the daughter of former FBI Director James Comey, in a decision that directly challenges the administration's claim that it can dismiss federal employees for any reason. The ruling is tailored to Comey's case, but its reasoning reaches well beyond it.

Comey, who had served as an assistant U.S. attorney for a decade, was fired in July 2025. U.S. District Judge Jesse M. Furman found that she had worked on some of the nation's highest-profile cases and had consistently received “the highest accolades from supervisors and peers alike.” Furman also found that Comey had argued she was fired because she was the daughter of James Comey, whom President Donald Trump has long regarded as an adversary, or because of her perceived political affiliation and beliefs, or both.

After her dismissal, Comey sued the Justice Department and other defendants. Her complaint argued that the firing violated the constitutional separation of powers, the First Amendment and the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment. Furman rejected the government's argument that federal prosecutors exercise the president's “conclusive and preclusive” powers, and said the claim that Congress is barred from regulating the removal of federal prosecutors “flies in the face of nearly two centuries of Supreme Court precedent.” He added that accepting the government's position “would be to unsettle the very equilibrium established by this Nation's constitutional system.”

The judge ruled that the firing violated the separation of powers, the Administrative Procedure Act, and Comey's Fifth Amendment due process and statutory rights. He reserved judgment on her First Amendment claim pending further argument, saying he was inclined to dismiss it as largely moot because she is now in private practice and no longer seeks actual reinstatement. Furman, who was nominated to the bench in 2011 by then-President Barack Obama, granted Comey retroactive reinstatement and back pay from the date of her firing through Dec. 20 to “make her whole” and ensure she does not suffer adverse employment consequences from the “unlawful termination.”

The Justice Department said in a statement that it “disagrees with this decision and will appeal in due course.” Comey's lawyers, Ellen Blain, Nicole Gueron, Deepa Vanamali and Margaret Donovan, welcomed the decision. “This hard-earned victory belongs to Ms. Comey, to all civil servants, and to all fighting for the rule of law,” they said, adding: “This decision reaffirms our bedrock system of checks and balances: the President is not above the law.”

The firing came two weeks after Comey led the prosecution of music mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs, which ended in a conviction on prostitution-related charges and an acquittal on others. She also worked on the sex trafficking prosecutions of Jeffrey Epstein, the financier who died by suicide in jail in 2019, and of his former girlfriend and confidant Ghislaine Maxwell, who was convicted in 2021 and is serving a 20-year sentence.

The Justice Department under Trump has dismissed scores of career employees, including prosecutors and FBI agents, who worked on investigations involving Trump or who were perceived as opposed to the administration's agenda, and some of those dismissals have led to federal lawsuits. The firing of Maurene Comey has been viewed as especially personal given her father's long adversarial relationship with the president. Trump fired James Comey as FBI director in May 2017 while the bureau was investigating ties between Russia and Trump's 2016 campaign. Trump has repeatedly called for Comey to be jailed, and his Justice Department has pursued that goal with mixed success. A earlier criminal case accusing James Comey of lying to Congress was dismissed after a judge concluded the prosecutor who filed the charges had been illegally appointed. A separate pending indictment charges him with threatening Trump through an Instagram photo of seashells arranged as “86 47,” a case he has asked a court to dismiss, a request some legal experts have met with skepticism.

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Caroline Mercer

World News Correspondent

Caroline Mercer covers public affairs, politics, business, culture and daily news for Core Memo. The role focuses on verification, context, and clear explanations for readers.

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