Judge Rules DOJ Unlawfully Fired Maurene Comey, Rejects ‘Expansive’ Article II Theory
A federal judge ruled Monday that the Justice Department unlawfully fired Maurene Comey, the daughter of former FBI Director James Comey, from her job as a federal prosecutor in Manhattan.
U.S. District Judge Jesse Furman of the Southern District of New York found that the July 2025 dismissal violated the Civil Service Reform Act and the constitutional separation of powers, according to his 55-page opinion.
Comey spent nearly 10 years as an assistant U.S. attorney in the office’s criminal division. She worked on some of the country’s highest-profile cases, including the prosecutions of Jeffrey Epstein, Ghislaine Maxwell and Sean “Diddy” Combs.
On July 16, 2025, she received an email from Justice Department officials in Washington terminating her employment “[p]ursuant to Article II of the United States Constitution and the laws of the United States.” No other reason was given.
She sued the department and others, arguing that the firing violated the separation of powers, civil service protections, the First Amendment and her due process rights. She alleged she was fired because she is James Comey’s daughter.
Court Rejects Article II Firing Power
The government argued the president’s Article II authority allowed the firing despite statutory protections for career employees. Furman rejected that argument, writing that the defendants “invented a new and expansive theory of executive power.”
“To accept Defendants’ argument would be to unsettle the very equilibrium established by this Nation’s constitutional system,” the judge wrote. He noted the same theory has been used to remove other long-protected executive branch employees.
The government told the court that then-Attorney General Pam Bondi directed the firing and that Todd Blanche, as acting attorney general, later ratified it in a May 2026 memo. Furman found the ratification did not cure the problem.
The remedy is narrower than outright return to the office. The court granted retroactive reinstatement and back pay through Dec. 20, 2025, the date it inferred Comey accepted another job, which she still holds.
Her personnel file will be revised to show she resigned that day rather than being fired, and her pension and retirement contributions will be restored. The judge also granted the declaratory judgment she sought.
Furman did not resolve her First Amendment claim, asking for further briefing. The Justice Department said it disagrees with the decision and will appeal “in due course,” NPR reported.
Furman was appointed to the bench by President Barack Obama. The ruling drew wide coverage, including from the Associated Press, the Washington Post and Bloomberg Law.
The case is one of several legal fights involving the Comey family. James Comey has been indicted twice since leaving the FBI. The first case was dismissed, while a second, over an alleged threat tied to a seashell photo, remains pending.
Furman pointed to other cases in which the administration has used the same Article II theory to remove protected employees. Those workers could cite Monday’s ruling as their own challenges move through the courts.
For now, Comey has a court declaration that her removal was unlawful, while the department’s planned appeal means the dispute over presidential firing power is likely headed to the Second Circuit.
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