President Donald Trump’s Justice Department lost its legal fight over firing the daughter of his longtime foe, former FBI Director James Comey, as a judge ordered her reinstated with back pay.
U.S. District Judge Jesse Furman ruled Monday that the department unlawfully fired Maurene Comey, a longtime federal prosecutor in Manhattan, in July 2025, according to his 55-page opinion. She worked on the prosecutions of Jeffrey Epstein and Sean “Diddy” Combs, the opinion notes.
Furman retroactively ordered her reinstated, with back pay through Dec. 20, 2025, when she accepted a different job. She is now a partner at Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler.
The order makes Maurene Comey whole for the months after her firing, the ruling says. It restores her retirement contributions, credits her with more than 10 years of service, and changes her file to show she resigned rather than was fired. Furman will decide the backpay amount later.
In court, the Trump administration argued that Article II of the Constitution, which sets out the president’s powers, let the attorney general fire prosecutors like Maurene Comey at will. Furman wrote that the argument “flies in the face of nearly two centuries of Supreme Court precedent.”
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