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An Obama-appointed New York federal judge ruled Monday that the Trump Justice Department unlawfully fired former FBI Director James Comey's daughter Maurene, rejecting the administration's sweeping claim of executive authority and warning that its argument threatened the nation's constitutional balance of power.
The Justice Department acknowledged in court filings that Comey's firing was not for-cause and was not based on her performance, but argued that the attorney general had the authority to remove her under Article II of the Constitution.
"Defendants’ argument that [Constitution] Article II bars Congress from regulating the removal of AUSAs (assistant U.S. attorneys) flies in the face of nearly two centuries of Supreme Court precedent," Judge Jesse Furman wrote, adding that accepting the administration's argument would "unsettle the very equilibrium established by this nation's constitutional system."
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A DOJ spokesperson told Fox News Digital the department disagreed with the decision and will appeal it in "due course." Furman ordered Comey retroactively reinstated and awarded back pay through Dec. 20, 2025, when she accepted another job.
While federal law gives the attorney general authority to fire assistant U.S. attorneys, Furman ruled that Congress placed limits on that power through the Civil Service Reform Act (CSRA), which generally requires cause for termination and procedural protections for government workers.
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The judge found that Comey's firing violated those requirements, noting that the government conceded her removal was not based on misconduct or poor performance and that she received neither advance notice nor an opportunity to respond.
Comey had served about a decade in the prominent Southern District of New York, where she worked on some of the office’s biggest cases, including the prosecution of Ghislaine Maxwell – associate and rumored partner of Jeffrey Epstein — as well as the sex trafficking trial of rapper Sean "P. Diddy" Combs.
Furman also recently rebuked the Trump administration during its efforts to deport pro-Palestinian Columbia University student activist Mahmoud Khalil, leading the federal government to argue for a change of venue to New Jersey.
The judge, nominated in 2011, previously served as a federal prosecutor in the same Manhattan U.S. attorney's office where both Comeys worked during their careers. Furman's brother, Jason, served in the Obama administration as chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers.
James Comey served as the top prosecutor at SDNY early in the George W. Bush administration, where he investigated President Bill Clinton’s controversial pardon of financier Marc Rich as well as interior designer Martha Stewart.
The younger Comey was the second in her family to be fired under Trump, after the president terminated her father as FBI director in 2017 during the Russia collusion investigation.
The elder Comey later came under fire for posting a photo of seashells on a beach arranged to form the sentiment "86 47" – with critics saying "86" was a reference to killing something, such as in restaurant lingo, and "47" referred to Trump, the 47th president.
Maurene Comey’s attorneys said in a statement to The Associated Press that their victory was "hard-earned" for both their client and all civil servants.
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"As the court correctly held, to accept the government’s argument about unlimited executive power ‘would be to unsettle the very equilibrium established by this nation’s constitutional system.’ This decision reaffirms our bedrock system of checks and balances: the President is not above the law," they said.
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