Judge: Maurene Comey was illegally fired from Justice Department

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A federal judge on Monday found the Justice Department’s firing of Maurene Comey, a former federal prosecutor who presided over several high-profile cases including those of Jeffrey Epstein and Sean “Diddy” Combs, was unconstitutional.

Comey, an assistant US attorney for the Southern District of New York for nearly a decade, was fired in July 2025. She filed a lawsuit claiming the firing was in retaliation because her father is former FBI Director James Comey , a vocal opponent of President Donald Trump.

Until she was fired, Comey received accolades from her supervisors and was frequently tapped for some of the office’s biggest cases. DOJ, in its arguments, acknowledged Comey was not fired for cause or due to her performance.

Judge Jesse Furman said the Justice Department’s firing violated the separation of powers clause of the US Constitution, which places limits on how certain federal employees can be fired. He also found it violated the Civil Service Reform Act, which guards the process by which federal employees can be removed.

“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. And Comey’s removal indisputably violated the CSRA,” Furman wrote.

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Justice Department attempts to distance Attorney General Todd Blanche from Comey’s ‘8647’ seashell threat indictment

The Justice Department had argued the attorney general exercises the president’s powers and could not be limited by Congress.

Furman said DOJ’s argument that Congress cannot dictate how federal employees are removed would upend two centuries of Supreme Court decisions. To agree with DOJ would “risk a return to the spoils system that Congress has sought to end since the nineteenth century,” he wrote.

Comey is currently working as a defense lawyer. The judge ordered her to receive backpay until the time she took on that position.

“This hard-earned victory belongs to Ms. Comey, to all civil servants, and to all fighting for the rule of law,” Maurene Comey’s legal team said in a statement. “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.’”

CNN has reached out to the Justice Department for comment.

After she was fired , Comey told her former colleagues in an email that her sudden dismissal should “fuel the fire” of their work fighting abuses of power.

“If a career prosecutor can be fired without reason, fear may seep into the decisions of those who remain,” she wrote in a message to her former colleagues, which was obtained by CNN. “Do not let that happen.”

She continued: “Fear is the tool of a tyrant, wielded to suppress independent thought. Instead of fear, let this moment fuel the fire that already burns at the heart of this place. A fire of righteous indignation at abuses of power. Of commitment to seek justice for victims. Of dedication to truth above all else.”

Furman, an appointee of former President Barack Obama, did not rule on Comey’s claim that her termination violated the First Amendment. He asked both sides for further briefings on that topic.

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周一，一名联邦法官裁定，司法部解雇前联邦检察官莫琳·科米（Maurene Comey）的做法违宪。科米曾主持过几起备受瞩目的案件，包括杰弗里·爱泼斯坦（Jeffrey Epstein）和肖恩·“迪迪”·科姆斯（Sean “Diddy” Combs）的案件。

科米曾担任纽约南区联邦助理检察官近十年，于 2025 年 7 月被解雇。她提起诉讼，声称解雇是出于报复，因为她的父亲是前联邦调查局局长詹姆斯·科米，而詹姆斯·科米是唐纳德·特朗普总统的公开反对者。

在被解雇之前，科米一直受到上司的赞扬，并经常被委派处理一些办公室里最重要的案件。司法部在辩方辩称，科米的解雇并非出于正当理由，也并非由于她的工作表现。

杰西·弗曼法官表示，司法部的解雇行为违反了美国宪法中的权力分立条款，该条款限制了某些联邦雇员的解雇方式。他还认定，此举违反了《公务员制度改革法》，该法保障了联邦雇员的解雇程序。

“是的，司法部长依法有权撤换助理联邦检察官。但司法部长（以及任何被司法部长委托行使该权力的人）也受到法律的限制，即《公务员制度改革法案》（CSRA），只能以特定方式并出于特定理由行使该权力。而科米的撤职无疑违反了《公务员制度改革法案》。”弗曼写道。

内森·霍华德/路透社

司法部试图撇清司法部长托德·布兰奇与科米因“8647”号贝壳威胁案被起诉的关系。

司法部辩称，司法部长行使的是总统的权力，不受国会限制。

弗曼表示，司法部认为国会无权决定如何解雇联邦雇员，这种说法将颠覆最高法院两个世纪以来的判例。他写道，如果同意司法部的观点，“则有可能重蹈覆辙，回到国会自19世纪以来一直试图终结的分赃制”。

科米目前担任辩护律师。法官命令她获得自担任该职位以来的补发工资。

“这场来之不易的胜利属于科米女士，属于所有公务员，属于所有捍卫法治的人们，”莫琳·科米的法律团队在一份声明中表示。“正如法院正确裁定的那样，接受政府关于行政权力不受限制的论点‘将破坏美国宪政体制所建立的平衡’。”

CNN已联系司法部寻求置评。

科米被解雇后，她在一封电子邮件中告诉她的前同事，她突然被解雇应该“点燃”他们打击滥用权力的“火焰”。

“如果一名资深检察官可以毫无理由地被解雇，那么留下来的人的决策中可能会受到恐惧的影响，”她在写给前同事的信息中说道，CNN获得了这封信息。“不要让这种情况发生。”

她继续说道：“恐惧是暴君的工具，用来压制独立思考。与其恐惧，不如让此刻点燃这片土地上早已燃起的怒火。这怒火源于对滥用权力的义愤填膺，源于为受害者伸张正义的决心，源于对真理的执着追求。”

弗曼法官是前总统奥巴马任命的，他没有就科米提出的解雇违反宪法第一修正案的说法作出裁决。他要求双方就此问题提交进一步的情况介绍。