The Justice Department told a New York federal judge on Friday that a recent Supreme Court decision expanding the president’s power to fire certain agency leaders also applies to more junior officials, including former Manhattan prosecutor Maurene Comey.
Comey, a longtime Assistant U.S. Attorney and the daughter of former FBI Director James Comey, was fired last year with no stated reason other than Article II of the Constitution, which vests executive power in the president. She is suing, saying she was removed because of her father, her perceived politics, or both.
DOJ lawyer Tyler Becker said employees or inferior officers who exercise core executive power must be removable at will, and that accountability for prosecutor decisions belongs to the elected president, not career officials.
Comey’s lawyer, Ellen Blain, said Article II does not allow the government to fire a line prosecutor without cause and described the department’s theory as a way to fire a civil servant because of her family. Judge Jesse Furman asked whether that same power could be used on the basis of race or gender. Becker said Article II would not permit a court to inquire into the reason.
The Supreme Court ruling in June widened presidential control over federal agencies but left open whether that power reaches so-called inferior officers. Furman did not rule from the bench.
