NY judge rules prosecutor Maurene Comey's firing by Trump administration was unlawful

Molly Crane-Newman, New York Daily News on Oct 26, 2026

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NEW YORK — The Trump administration’s firing of veteran prosecutor Maurene Comey was unlawful and flew in the face of “nearly two centuries of Supreme Court precedent” and longstanding White House policy, a federal judge in Manhattan ruled Monday.

In a 55-page decision, Federal Court Judge Jesse Furman granted Comey’s request to find Trump’s Justice Department violated the separation of powers, the Administrative Procedure Act, and Comey’s Fifth Amendment due process rights in firing her as an assistant U.S. attorney in Manhattan without cause.

Comey, the daughter of one of the president’s staunchest critics, former FBI Director James Comey, must be retroactively reinstated and receive back pay, Furman ruled.

“Defendants’ argument that Article II bars Congress from regulating the removal of AUSAs flies in the face of nearly two centuries of Supreme Court precedent,” the judge wrote.

“It is also without merit. Indeed, to accept Defendants’ argument would be to unsettle the very equilibrium established by this Nation’s constitutional system.”

Comey, a highly respected former federal prosecutor, filed suit after she was fired after a decadelong tenure in the Southern District of New York, where she took the lead in the high-profile prosecutions of many notorious sexual predators, including Jeffrey Epstein, his imprisoned accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell and convicted rap entrepreneur Sean “Diddy” Combs.

Her firing by the Trump administration came after the DOJ brought charges against her father in relation to an Instagram post published by the former head of the FBI depicting a formation of seashells on the beach, arranged to spell out “86 47,” which Trump and his allies claimed intended to threaten the president’s life. James Comey vehemently denies the allegations and has moved to dismiss the case.

“This hard-earned victory belongs to Ms. Comey, to all civil servants, and to all fighting for the rule of law. 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,’” Comey’s lawyers, Ellen Blain, Nicole Gueron, Deepa Vanamali and Margaret Donovan, said in a statement.

“This decision reaffirms our bedrock system of checks and balances: the President is not above the law.”

The DOJ did not immediately respond to requests seeking comment.

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