Was Maurene Comey fired illegally, and what does the ruling change?

A federal judge in New York ruled that the Justice Department unlawfully fired Maurene Comey, a former prosecutor and daughter of ex-FBI director James Comey. She spent about a decade in Manhattan, working on the Epstein, Maxwell and Combs cases, before she was fired in July 2025.

The government argued that prosecutors wield the president's powers and can be removed at will. Judge Jesse Furman rejected that, and also rejected the claim that Congress cannot regulate their removal. He wrote: The Court concludes the Defendants are wrong.

He warned: Indeed, to accept Defendants' argument would be to unsettle the very equilibrium established by this Nation's constitutional system. The ruling entitles Comey to back pay through December 2025, and could open a route for other dismissed government workers appealing their firings.