A federal judge ruled Monday that the Trump administration unlawfully fired Maurene Comey, a former federal prosecutor and daughter of former FBI Director James Comey. U.S. District Judge Jesse Furman ordered the Justice Department to reinstate her with back pay, finding that her July 2025 firing violated federal law.
Comey worked for nearly a decade in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, handling high-profile cases involving Jeffrey Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell and music mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs. She sued the Justice Department, alleging she was fired because of her relationship to her father, a longtime critic of President Trump, or because of her perceived political beliefs and affiliations.
The Justice Department argued that the president and attorney general have the authority to remove federal prosecutors without cause because of their executive responsibilities. Furman rejected that argument, writing that the government’s position conflicted with nearly two centuries of Supreme Court precedent.
