Judge Rules DOJ’s Firing of Maurene Comey Unlawful

A federal judge in Manhattan concluded that the Department of Justice’s termination of Maurene Comey, an assistant United States attorney in the Southern District of New York, was unlawful. The judge ordered that Comey be retroactively reinstated to her position after she was dismissed in July 2025. The ruling held that the removal breached the Civil Service Reform Act (CSRA), which governs how federal prosecutors may be terminated.

CNBC

Maurene Comey, the daughter of former FBI Director James Comey, had participated in the prosecutions of Jeffrey Epstein and his alleged accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell. While the Attorney General possesses statutory authority to remove an assistant United States attorney, that authority is constrained by the CSRA, which requires removals to follow specific procedures and be based on limited grounds.

CNBC

The judge determined that the Department’s action “indisputably violated the CSRA,” and therefore the dismissal could not stand. No response from the Department of Justice was included in the source material.

CNBC

• “First, Comey's removal was not authorized by any statute; to the contrary, it violated the CSRA [Civil Service Reform Act],” — Judge Jesse Furman, wrote judge

CNBC

• “Yes, the Attorney General is authorized by law to remove an AUSA. But the Attorney General (and anyone to whom the Attorney General delegates that authority) is also limited by law, namely the CSRA, to do so only in a particular manner and only for certain reasons,” — Jesse Furman, wrote judge

CNBC

The court order requires the Department of Justice to reinstate Maurene Comey to her former role as an assistant United States attorney. The decision underscores the legal boundaries that constrain executive removal of federal prosecutors and may influence how future personnel actions are conducted within the Justice Department.

CNBC