US court rules daughter of Trump critic James Comey was illegally fired

A United States judge has ruled that former federal prosecutor Maurene Comey was illegally fired by the administration of President Donald Trump.

US District Judge Jesse Furman said on Monday that the Trump administration had overstepped the boundaries of executive authority when it fired so-called “inferior officers” without cause.

He rejected the administration’s position that the president had the power to undertake such firings, regardless of the protections implemented by Congress.

“To accept defendants’ argument would be to unsettle the very equilibrium established by this nation’s constitutional system,” Furman wrote.

He also dismissed the idea that federal prosecutors like Comey are an extension of the president’s “conclusive and preclusive” powers.

“Defendants invented a new and expansive theory of executive power,” Furman wrote of the Trump administration. “They have also utilised that theory to remove other Executive Branch employees who have long held protections from removal.”

The ruling is a setback for the Trump administration, which has sought to fire federal employees seen as out of step with the president’s priorities.

Critics have also accused Trump of seeking retribution against perceived enemies. Comey is the daughter of former government official James Comey, who led the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) from 2013 to 2017.

He was fired during Trump’s first term and has since become one of the Republican leader’s most visible critics.

Maurene Comey’s legal team had argued that her position was terminated because of Trump’s antipathy towards her father.

In Monday’s decision, Furman granted her request for back pay from the date of her firing on July 16, 2025, through December. He also said she is entitled to “retroactive reinstatement” for that time period.

Maurene Comey had served as an assistant US attorney for the Department of Justice since 2015, based in Manhattan.

She had brought cases against such high-profile figures as convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, his associate Ghislaine Maxwell and music mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs.

In her lawsuit, Comey alleged that her firing had violated federal laws prohibiting the termination of civil servants for political reasons.

She also pointed to the separation of powers under the US Constitution, which allows Congress to pass regulations governing federal employees, so long as they do not interfere with the president’s authority.

The Department of Justice, under Trump, has countered that the president has wide latitude to fire federal employees without cause.

In response to Monday’s ruling, the administration has said it “disagrees with this decision and will appeal in due course”.

Since returning to office for a second term, Trump has sought to reduce the size of the federal government and remove prosecutors and investigators involved in cases he disagrees with.

He has also pushed the Justice Department to prosecute several of his critics, including James Comey.

In a social media post on September 20, 2025, Trump called on then-Attorney General Pam Bondi to pursue charges against James Comey and several others.

“There is a GREAT CASE, and many lawyers, and legal pundits, say so,” Trump wrote.

“We can’t delay any longer, it’s killing our reputation and credibility. They impeached me twice, and indicted me (5 times!), OVER NOTHING. JUSTICE MUST BE SERVED, NOW!!!”

James Comey was fired when the FBI was investigating potential links between Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign and Russia. That investigation was a frequent subject of Trump’s anger.

Shortly after the September 2025 post, the Department of Justice charged Comey with lying to Congress. A judge dismissed the case in November after finding the prosecutor who brought the charges, Lindsey Halligan, had been unlawfully appointed.

In April, James Comey was charged again in a separate case accusing him of threatening Trump by sharing an image of seashells on social media.

The seashells were arranged to form the numbers “86 47”. The term “86” is used in the restaurant industry in the US to refer to throwing someone out of a bar, but the Trump administration argued that it is a threat associated with organised crime.

The “47”, it added, was a reference to Trump, the 47th president.

The ex-FBI chief has denounced the case as an example of political persecution under Trump.