By Luc Cohen
NEW YORK, Oct 26 (Reuters) – The abrupt firing of Maurene Comey as a federal prosecutor by President Donald Trump’s administration was unlawful, a US judge ruled on Monday in a victory for the eldest daughter of former FBI director and longtime Trump adversary James Comey.
Maurene Comey, who brought criminal cases against Jeffrey Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell and music mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs during a tenure at the Manhattan US Attorney’s office that began in 2015, was fired by Trump’s Justice Department in July 2025. Her dismissal came a few months after the Republican president began his second term in office.
In a lawsuit against the administration, she alleged that she was fired because of who her father was, in violation of federal laws prohibiting firing civil servants for political reasons and guaranteeing federal employees due process in employment disputes.
The case was seen as a test of whether the administration can swiftly fire career prosecutors like Comey who were not politically appointed and whose careers tend to span both Republican and Democratic presidential administrations.
“This decision reaffirms our bedrock system of checks and balances,” Comey’s lawyers said in a statement.
EXECUTIVE BRANCH AUTHORITY
In court papers, the Justice Department argued that prosecutors like Comey are subject to removal without cause by the president or the attorney general because they are delegated a high degree of executive authority when they represent the federal government in court in criminal cases.
In siding with Comey, US District Judge Jesse Furman said centuries of legal precedent affirmed the authority of Congress to place limits on the executive branch’s ability to remove so-called “inferior officers.”
“To accept defendants’ argument would be to unsettle the very equilibrium established by this nation’s constitutional system,” wrote Furman, who is based in Manhattan and was appointed by Democratic former President Barack Obama.
The judge granted her request to retroactively reinstate her as a prosecutor through December 2025 so she could get back pay and qualify for retirement benefits.
In a statement, a Justice Department spokesperson said, “The department disagrees with this decision and will appeal in due course.”
Furman has not yet ruled on one of Comey’s claims, meaning the department cannot yet appeal.
During his second term, Trump has sought to expand his authority over federal government entities that have historically experienced varying degrees of independence from the White House, including the Justice Department. His critics accuse him of using criminal prosecutions to punish political foes, including James Comey, and reward allies.
CHARGES AGAINST JAMES COMEY
Trump in 2017 during his first term fired James Comey, who at the time was leading an FBI investigation into contacts between Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign and Russians. Comey in 2018 called Trump morally “unfit to be president.” Trump defeated Democrat Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election.
Trump’s Justice Department last year charged James Comey with lying to Congress about authorizing leaks to the news media, one of the highest-profile instances of the Trump administration using law enforcement to target perceived political enemies. Comey pleaded not guilty, and the case was dismissed after a judge found that the federal prosecutor who secured the charges had not been lawfully appointed.
James Comey has since been charged in a separate federal case with threatening Trump by posting a photograph of seashells arranged to show the numbers “86 47.” Comey has pleaded not guilty. The number 86 is a slang term originating in the restaurant industry that can mean to “get rid of” or throw someone out, while 47 may refer to Trump, the 47th US president.
James Comey has called the cases against him vindictive prosecutions motivated by Trump’s animosity.
In February, Maurene Comey was hired as a partner at law firm Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler.
(Reporting by Luc Cohen in New York; Editing by David Gaffen and Will Dunham)
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