On October 26, 2026, U.S. District Judge Jesse Furman ruled that the Justice Department unlawfully fired Maurene Comey, a federal prosecutor in Manhattan for nearly ten years and the daughter of former FBI Director James Comey, on July 16, 2025. “Comey's removal indisputably violated the CSRA,” he wrote, referring to the Civil Service Reform Act, and he held that she was terminated “in violation of the constitutional separation of powers and federal law.”
The department had argued that Article II of the Constitution bars Congress from limiting the removal of federal prosecutors. Furman wrote that the argument “flies in the face of nearly two centuries of Supreme Court precedent” and that “to accept Defendants' argument would be to unsettle the very equilibrium established by this Nation's constitutional system.” He found that Comey had “consistently received the highest accolades from supervisors and peers alike.” The AP said the ruling repudiates the administration's claim, cited in its purge of the federal workforce, that the Constitution permits such firings for any reason.
Furman granted retroactive reinstatement and back pay from her firing through December 20, 2025, when she took a private-sector job; she now works in private practice and no longer seeks to return, the AP reported. He did not decide her claim that she was fired because she is James Comey's daughter. A department spokesperson said it “disagrees with this decision and will appeal in due course.” According to CBS News, the administration said in May that then-Attorney General Pam Bondi directed the firing and her successor, Todd Blanche, ratified it.
The ruling came hours before the department's third criminal case against her father was unsealed (see Justice Department Charges Comey a Third Time, Filing Under Seal 10 Years to the Day After an Alleged 2016 Leak). Comey had led the prosecution of Sean Combs two weeks before she was fired, and she had worked on the Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell cases, the AP reported.