Why a judge said the Trump immunity ruling doesn’t justify Maurene Comey’s firing

A federal judge in Manhattan has ordered the Justice Department to reinstate Maurene Comey as a federal prosecutor and give her back pay, rejecting the government's argument that she could be dismissed at will. Judge Jesse Furman, an Obama appointee on the Southern District of New York, ruled Monday in her civil suit. She contends she was fired last year because of her relationship to her father, former FBI Director James Comey, whom President Donald Trump dismissed in his first term and who later became a frequent target of federal prosecution, according to MS NOW.

The department leaned partly on the Supreme Court's 2024 decision in Trump v. United States, claiming assistant U. S. attorneys wield core executive power and so can be removed freely. Furman acknowledged the opinion's broad wording made that claim colorable but said the Court itself urges reading its rulings in context. That case concerned criminal immunity rather than removal, he noted, and it is irrelevant here because officials maintain that then-Attorney General Pam Bondi, not Trump, directed the firing.

Fuman found violations of the separation of powers, federal law and Comey's Fifth Amendment due process rights, warning the government's view risked reviving the spoils system.

Summarized by PolitiKool from MS NOW’s reporting. Read the full story at MS NOW →