10-Year Prosecutor Wins Back Pay After Judge Calls DOJ Firing Illegal

Judge Jesse Furman ordered the Trump Justice Department to pay back wages to Maurene Comey, the daughter of former FBI Director James Comey, after finding her 2025 firing illegal. The ruling, issued Monday by the Obama-appointed New York federal judge, grants Comey retroactive reinstatement and compensation through December 20, 2025, the date she accepted a new position.

The Justice Department conceded in court filings that Comey was not fired for cause and that her performance was not the basis for her removal. However, the administration argued that the attorney general possessed inherent authority to remove assistant U.S. attorneys under Article II of the Constitution, a claim Furman rejected. The judge noted that accepting this view would contradict nearly two centuries of Supreme Court precedent.

Furman determined that Congress imposed specific limits on the attorney general’s removal power through the Civil Service Reform Act. The statute generally requires a showing of cause and mandates procedural protections for federal employees, including advance notice and an opportunity to respond. Comey received neither of these protections before her termination.

Comey served approximately ten years in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, a prominent office where she worked on high-profile cases including the prosecution of Ghislaine Maxwell and Sean Combs. She is the second family member fired under the Trump administration, following her father’s 2017 dismissal as FBI director during the Russia investigation.

A DOJ spokesperson said the department disagrees with the decision and intends to appeal in due course. Maurene Comey’s attorneys told The Associated Press that the victory was hard earned for their client and other civil servants. They cited the court’s finding that unlimited executive power would unsettle the constitutional system of checks and balances, stating that the President is not above the law.

Furman, who was nominated in 2011, previously served as a federal prosecutor in the same Manhattan office where both Comeys worked. He recently rebuked the administration in a separate case involving the deportation of Columbia University student Mahmoud Khalil. The judge’s brother, Jason Furman, served as chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers in the Obama administration.