Federal judge orders reinstatement and back pay for Maurene Comey after illegal Trump administration firing
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A U.S. district judge concluded that the Trump administration unlawfully terminated Maurene Comey, ordering her retroactive reinstatement and back pay while leaving her First Amendment claim for later, in a ruling that reinforced the limits on executive power.
A federal judge on Monday found that the Trump administration illegally dismissed Maurene Comey, who had served as an assistant U.S. attorney in New York for ten years. Judge Jesse M. Furman ruled that the termination violated the constitutional separation of powers, the Administrative Procedure Act and her Fifth Amendment due-process rights, and ordered her retroactive reinstatement and back pay through Dec. 20 to compensate for the unlawful firing.
Comey had sued the Justice Department, alleging that she was removed because of her relationship to former FBI director James Comey and her perceived political views. The judge rejected the government's sweeping argument that the president holds conclusive authority to fire federal prosecutors, calling the claim contrary to nearly two centuries of Supreme Court precedent and underscoring that even the executive branch must obey the law.
"This decision reaffirms our bedrock system of checks and balances: the president is not above the law," said attorneys Ellen Blain, Nicole Gueron, Deepa Vanamali and Margaret Donovan.
The court reserved judgment on Comey's First Amendment claim, noting that the issue may be moot since she is now a partner at Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler. The ruling follows broader scrutiny of the Justice Department's employment practices during the Trump administration, which have been hit by multiple lawsuits over what critics describe as politically driven personnel decisions.
Comey's case is notable for its personal dimension, given her father's long-standing conflict with President Donald Trump, who dismissed James Comey as FBI director in 2017.