A federal judge ruled Monday that the Trump administration broke federal law when it dismissed veteran Manhattan prosecutor Maurene Comey, dealing a significant judicial defeat to the White House’s asserted power to fire career civil servants at will.
U.S. District Judge Jesse Furman determined in a 55-page ruling that Comey’s July 2025 termination breached statutory civil service protections, the Administrative Procedure Act and her constitutional due process rights under the Fifth Amendment. Furman ordered her retroactively reinstated and granted her back pay from July 16, 2025, through Dec. 20, 2025, the date she entered private practice.
Rejection of Sweeping Executive Powers
Court documents revealed that former Attorney General Pam Bondi personally directed Comey’s dismissal, with Executive Office for United States Attorneys Director John Hakes executing the termination memorandum. Justice Department lawyers subsequently attempted to defend the removal through a May 2026 memorandum issued by then-Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, who sought to ratify Bondi’s earlier action.
Administration attorneys argued that the president possesses broad constitutional discretion to fire federal prosecutors without establishing cause, regardless of congressional workplace protections. Furman forcefully dismissed that stance, writing that the executive branch’s theory “flies in the face of nearly two centuries of Supreme Court precedent.”
“Indeed, to accept Defendants’ argument would be to unsettle the very equilibrium established by this Nation’s constitutional system,” Furman wrote in his opinion, adding that the government had devised “a new and expansive theory of executive power” to strip safeguards from civil servants.
While ruling the firing procedurally illegal, the court did not reach a finding that political retaliation drove the removal. Furman also reserved final judgment on Comey’s First Amendment claims pending further proceedings, while indicating he was inclined to dismiss that claim because she does not seek to leave her private legal role to return to government work.
A Decade of High-Profile Prosecutions
Comey, who worked as an assistant U.S. attorney for about a decade in the Southern District of New York, compiled an extensive record on prominent criminal matters. Her trial caseload included prosecutions of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, his associate Ghislaine Maxwell, former Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey and music mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs.
Records cited in the decision showed Comey earned stellar evaluations from 2019 to 2024. Despite those reviews, officials dismissed her without written justification, informing her only that the command originated from Washington. Comey subsequently filed suit, contending she was penalized because of her perceived political beliefs and because her father is former FBI Director James Comey, whom Donald Trump dismissed in 2017.
“This hard-earned victory belongs to Ms. Comey, to all civil servants, and to all fighting for the rule of law,” her attorneys said in a joint statement, adding that the ruling confirms “the President is not above the law.”
The Justice Department pushed back against the ruling. In an official statement, a department representative confirmed that the administration “disagrees with this decision and will appeal in due course.”
Ongoing Battles Over Career Personnel
The decision comes amid widespread administrative purges across federal agencies, where scores of career prosecutors and investigators have been dismissed. It also unfolds against a backdrop of prolonged friction between the White House and Comey’s father.
Federal prosecutors have brought two criminal indictments against James Comey during Trump’s tenure. One case alleging false statements to Congress was dismissed in late 2025 after a judge found prosecutor Lindsey Halligan was unlawfully appointed. A second case, accusing the former FBI chief of making threats over an online photograph of seashells arranged as “86 47,” remains pending as Comey seeks dismissal.
The Justice Department’s planned appeal will now place the limits of presidential hiring and firing authorities before a federal appeals court.
