NEW YORK (AP) — A federal judge ruled Monday that the Trump administration last year unlawfully fired Maureen Comey, the daughter of former FBI Director James Comey, from her position as a federal prosecutor in New York.
Judge Jesse M. Furman found that Maurene Comey, an assistant U.S. attorney for a decade, was unlawfully fired in July 2025 even though she had worked on some of the nation’s most high-profile cases and had consistently received “the highest praise from her superiors and peers.”
Read more: Fired federal prosecutor Maureen Comey sues Trump administration over sudden firing
After her firing, Comey sued the Justice Department and other agencies, arguing that her firing violated the Constitution’s separation of powers, First and Fifth Amendment due process clauses.
The judge noted her claims that she was fired because she is the daughter of James Comey, whom President Donald Trump has long considered an enemy, or because of her perceived political stance and beliefs.
Furman dismissed the administration’s assertion that Comey could be fired because federal prosecutors exercised the president’s “determinative and preclusive” powers.
He said the administration’s claim to bar Congress from overseeing the removal of federal prosecutors “is contrary to nearly two centuries of Supreme Court precedent.”
“In fact, accepting the defendants’ arguments would undermine the balance established by this country’s constitutional system,” Furman added.
The judge ruled that the firing violated the separation of powers, the Administrative Procedure Act and its Fifth Amendment due process and statutory rights.
Furman reserved judgment on Comey’s First Amendment claim pending further arguments submitted by both sides, though he said he was inclined to dismiss the claim as largely moot because she is now in private practice and no longer seeking actual recovery.
The judge granted Comey retroactive reinstatement with back pay from the date of her firing through Dec. 20 to “make her whole” and ensure she would not suffer adverse employment consequences as a result of her “unlawful termination.”
Comey’s attorneys, Allen Bryan, Nicole Gueron, Deepa Vanamali and Margaret Donovan, praised the ruling.
“This hard-won victory belongs to Ms. Comey, to all public servants, and to all who fight for the rule of law,” they said in a statement. “As the court rightly held, accepting the administration’s argument for unlimited executive power ‘would undermine the balance upon which this country’s constitutional system is built.’ This decision reaffirms our fundamental system of checks and balances: The president is not above the law.”
The Justice Department did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.
During the Trump administration, the Justice Department fired dozens of career employees, including prosecutors and FBI agents, who were involved in investigations into President Donald Trump or were seen as opposing the administration’s agenda. Some of those firings also resulted in federal lawsuits.
Maureen Comey’s firing was seen as a particularly personal event, given her father’s long-standing hostile relationship with Trump.
In May 2017, the president fired FBI Director James Comey as the bureau investigated ties between Russia and the Republican Party’s success in winning the White House in 2016. In the years since, Trump has repeatedly called for Comey to be jailed, and his Justice Department has worked to achieve that goal, with varying degrees of success.
Earlier, a criminal case accusing James Comey of lying to Congress in 2020 was dismissed by a judge, who concluded that the prosecutor who brought the charges was illegally appointed. A separate pending indictment accuses the former FBI director of threatening Trump through photos of seashells on Instagram that read “86 47,” and he’s trying to dismiss the case, but some legal experts are skeptical.
Tucker and Durkin reported from Washington.
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