A federal judge on Monday ruled that the Department of Justice acted unlawfully when it fired New York federal prosecutor Maurene Comey last year. U.S. District Judge Jesse Furman ordered that Comey, an assistant United States attorney in the Southern District of New York, be retroactively reinstated to her position and receive back pay.
Comey, who previously prosecuted high-profile cases involving Jeffrey Epstein and his accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell, was terminated in July 2025. She is the daughter of former FBI director James Comey, who has faced prolonged criticism from President Donald Trump. James Comey is currently facing prosecution over an Instagram post featuring a photograph of seashells arranged to form the number ’86 47,’ which prosecutors allege constituted a threat against Trump’s life. Defense attorneys in that matter are seeking to have the case dismissed.
In his decision issued in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, Judge Furman rejected arguments from the Justice Department asserting that then-Attorney General Pam Bondi possessed the authority to remove a federal prosecutor at will and without cause, and that current Attorney General Todd Blanche could subsequently ratify that action.
Furman also dismissed the government’s alternative argument that, even if the Civil Service Reform Act mandates that prosecutors be removed only for cause, the attorney general’s decision to fire Comey inherently constituted a determination that the removal would promote the efficiency of the service. According to the judge, the DOJ essentially acknowledged that its invocation of Article II of the Constitution to justify unlimited firing power sought to overturn nearly two centuries of established Supreme Court precedent.
This Court, however, is bound to follow the Supreme Court’s precedents unless and until the Supreme Court overturns them, Furman wrote in his opinion.
Legal counsel for Comey issued a statement celebrating the decision on Monday, describing the outcome as a victory for civil servants and the rule of law. As the Court correctly held, to accept the government’s argument about unlimited executive power would be to unsettle the very equilibrium established by this Nation’s constitutional system, her lawyers stated, adding that the ruling reaffirms the nation’s system of checks and balances and establishes that the president is not above the law.
Following her dismissal in July 2025, Comey addressed her colleagues at the U.S. Attorney’s Office in a farewell note warning against the chilling effect of politically driven personnel actions. If a career prosecutor can be fired without reason, fear may seep into the decisions of those who remain, she wrote at the time. Fear is the tool of a tyrant, wielded to suppress independent thought. Instead of fear, let this moment fuel the fire that already burns in the heart of this place. A fire of righteous indignation at abuses of power. Of commitment to seek justice for victims.
Requests for comment on the court’s ruling sent to the Department of Justice and the White House did not immediately receive responses.
