Judge rules Trump administration illegally fired prosecutor Maurene Comey, daughter of ex-FBI director
The Trump administration last year illegally fired Maurene Comey, the daughter of former FBI director James Comey, from her job as a federal prosecutor in New York, a federal judge ruled Monday.
Comey's lawsuit is among a number of wrongful dismissal claims from former Justice Dept., FBI officials
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The Trump administration last year illegally fired Maurene Comey, the daughter of former FBI director James Comey, from her job as a federal prosecutor in New York, a federal judge ruled Monday.
Maurene Comey, who was an assistant U.S. attorney for a decade, was illegally fired in July 2025 despite her work on some of the country's highest-profile cases and consistently receiving "the highest accolades from supervisors and peers alike," Judge Jesse M. Furman found.
After her firing, Comey sued the U.S. Justice Department and others, saying her termination violated the constitutional separation of powers, the First Amendment and the due process clause of the Fifth Amendment.
She asserted she was fired because she was the daughter of James Comey, whom U.S. President Donald Trump has long viewed as an enemy, or because of her perceived political affiliation and beliefs, the judge noted.
The judge granted Comey retroactive reinstatement and back pay from the date of her firing through Dec. 20 to "make her whole" and ensure that she doesn't suffer adverse employment consequences for the "unlawful termination."
In her lawsuit, Comey asked for the retroactive pay so that she could get back pay and qualify for retirement benefits. In February, she was hired as a partner at New York law firm Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler.
Firing violated constitution, statutes: judge
Furman rejected the government's claim that Comey could be fired because federal prosecutors exercise the president's "conclusive and preclusive" powers.
He said the government's claim that Congress is barred from regulating the removal of federal prosecutors "flies in the face of nearly two centuries of Supreme Court precedent."
Furman added: "Indeed, to accept defendants' argument would be to unsettle the very equilibrium established by this nation's constitutional system."
The firing violated the separation of powers, the Administrative Procedure Act and her Fifth Amendment due process and statutory rights, the judge ruled.
WATCH | 'Well, they're back': Comey vows to fight indictment, again:
Former FBI director James Comey indicted again over social media post | Hanomansing Tonight
April 28|
Duration
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Former FBI director James Comey was indicted again on Tuesday over a social media post of seashells arranged on a beach reading the numbers ‘86 47.’ The Department of Justice says this post was a ‘call to violence’ toward U.S. President Donald Trump.Furman reserved judgment on Comey's First Amendment claim pending further arguments to be submitted by each side, though he said he was inclined to dismiss the claim because it was largely moot since she is now in private practice and no longer seeks actual reinstatement.
Comey's lawyers, Ellen Blain, Nicole Gueron, Deepa Vanamali and Margaret Donovan, lauded the ruling.
"This decision reaffirms our bedrock system of checks and balances: the president is not above the law," they said.
The Justice Department, during the Trump administration, has fired scores of career employees, including prosecutors and FBI agents, who participated in investigations of President Donald Trump or who were perceived as opposed to the administration's agenda. Some of those firings have also resulted in federal lawsuits.
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The firing of Maurene Comey was seen as particularly personal, given her father's longtime adversarial relationship with Trump.
The president fired James Comey as FBI director in May 2017 as the bureau was investigating ties between Russia and the Republican's successful 2016 campaign for the White House. In the years since, Trump has repeatedly called for Comey to be jailed, and his Justice Department has worked with mixed success to make that happen.
An earlier criminal case accusing James Comey of having lied to Congress in 2020 was dismissed by a judge who concluded that the prosecutor who filed the charges was illegally appointed. A separate pending indictment charges the former FBI director with threatening Trump through an Instagram photo of seashells in the numerical arrangement of "86 47," a case he has sought to dismiss and that some legal experts have greeted with skepticism.
When James Comey was originally indicted, his son-in-law, Troy Edwards Jr., resigned from his position as assistant U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. He is married to another daughter of Comey's.
The Justice Department and the FBI are facing a number of court challenges related to the ouster of dozens of attorneys and agents who were dismissed after participating in earlier investigations of Trump, or because they were perceived as insufficiently loyal to the Republican president's agenda.
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