Judge rules Trump DOJ unlawfully fired Maurene Comey, orders her reinstated with back pay

A federal judge ruled Monday that the Justice Department unlawfully fired Maurene Comey, a federal prosecutor in New York, and ordered her retroactively reinstated with back pay, CNBC reported. The ruling was also reported Monday by ABC News, CBS News, Politico, The New York Times and Bloomberg.

Judge Jesse Furman, of the U.S. District Court in Manhattan, ruled that her July 2025 removal from her post as an assistant U.S. attorney in the Southern District of New York was unlawful. The department said in a statement that it "disagrees with this decision and will appeal in due course."

What the judge rejected

According to CNBC, Furman turned down three Justice Department arguments:

• That then-Attorney General Pam Bondi could remove a federal prosecutor "at will" and without cause, and that current Attorney General Todd Blanche could approve that firing after the fact.
• That, even if the Civil Service Reform Act requires removal "for cause," the firing itself amounted to an implicit finding of cause.
• That the president's Article II powers allowed the firing. Furman wrote that the department all but admitted this argument sought "to overturn nearly two centuries of Supreme Court precedent," and that his court "is bound to follow the Supreme Court's precedents unless and until the Supreme Court overturns them."

The background

Comey, the daughter of former FBI director James Comey, worked on the prosecutions of Jeffrey Epstein, Ghislaine Maxwell and Sean "Diddy" Combs, per CNBC. She sued after her firing. Her lawyers said in a statement that the decision "reaffirms our bedrock system of checks and balances: the President is not above the law."

Her father is separately being prosecuted over an Instagram post of seashells forming "86 47," which the government alleges was a threat against the president. His attorneys are seeking to have that case dismissed. That case is not part of Monday's ruling.

What happens next

• The Justice Department's appeal would follow after Furman issues a final judgment, CNBC reported.
• Furman did not rule on Comey's First Amendment claim. He gave her until Nov. 9 to file arguments on why that claim should not be dismissed.

Why it matters beyond one prosecutor

The ruling turns on a narrow, practical question: whether career government lawyers have job protections that a department head cannot waive away with a one-line notice. If the decision stands on appeal, removal of career staff would have to meet the "for cause" standard in the civil service law. If it is reversed, the department's at-will reading would govern. Either way, the answer matters to the thousands of federal employees whose agencies, contractors and clients depend on stable staffing. For business owners with matters before federal prosecutors or agencies, the practical effect is continuity: cases are handled by the same career staff unless the courts say otherwise.

Furman's order is a district court ruling and is not final. We will update this story when a final judgment or an appeal is filed.

Sources: CNBC; same-day headlines from ABC News, CBS News, Politico, The New York Times and Bloomberg confirming the ruling. Statements are attributed to the parties as reported. This is news information, not legal advice.