Judge orders Justice Department to reinstate Maurene Comey

Administration argued Congress could not restrict prosecutor removals

U.S. District Judge Jesse Furman ruled on Monday that the Trump administration acted unlawfully when it fired federal prosecutor Maurene Comey. The ruling arose from a lawsuit she filed against the Justice Department after her dismissal in July 2025.

In the lawsuit, Comey alleged that the administration fired her because it perceived her as politically opposed to President Donald Trump, due to her father, former FBI director James Comey, being publicly critical of the president.

Maurene Comey was a federal prosecutor in New York who was involved in the prosecution of Ghislaine Maxwell.

Separately, the Justice Department has charged James Comey for allegedly making a threat against President Donald Trump after he posted a photograph of seashells spelling “86 47” on Instagram. James Comey denied the allegation, arguing that “86” means to “get rid of” and is not inherently violent.

The legal question was whether the Justice Department could fire Comey beyond the limits Congress placed on the department. The department argued that limiting its authority to fire her was unconstitutional.

Furman said the Justice Department violated those congressional limits when it fired Comey, rejecting the administration’s argument that it had constitutional power to fire the prosecutor.

In his opinion, Furman wrote: “Defendants’ argument is contrary to an unbroken line of Supreme Court decisions dating back almost two centuries, and the Supreme Court itself has not formally overruled any of those decisions.” He added, “That is sufficient, in itself, to reject the argument.”

Under the ruling, the Justice Department must pay Comey back pay and reinstate her as an assistant U.S. attorney in the Southern District of New York.