Judge Rules DOJ Unlawfully Fired Prosecutor Maurene Comey, Orders Retroactive Reinstatement
Photo: ZeroHedgeA federal judge in New York ruled Monday that the Justice Department unlawfully fired Maurene Comey, a former assistant U.S. attorney in the Southern District of New York, and ordered her reinstated retroactively with back pay. U.S. District Judge Jesse Furman, in a 55-page decision, found the removal violated the Civil Service Reform Act and the constitutional separation of powers. Comey worked on the Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell cases and is the daughter of former FBI Director James Comey. Back pay runs from her July 2025 firing through Dec. 20, 2025, when she accepted a different job.
Furman rejected the government's argument that the attorney general can fire a career prosecutor at will, calling it a "sweeping and unprecedented theory of executive authority." The administration said in May that then-Attorney General Pam Bondi directed the removal and that her successor, Todd Blanche, ratified it; Furman held the ratification did not cure the firing. The Justice Department admitted in court that Comey had outstanding performance ratings from 2019 through 2024.
The Blaze, on the right, leads with the judge's political background, calling him an Obama appointee, and describes the ordered reinstatement in its headline as a directive to the Trump DOJ. Its excerpt notes the judge found the attorney general and delegates are authorized by law to fire a federal prosecutor, but that the way Comey was fired was unlawful. It also describes her father as disgraced. MS NOW, on the left, frames the ruling around the court's reasoning, stating that the Trump immunity ruling does not justify the firing, and quotes the judge rejecting the executive-authority theory. Both sides report the unlawful-firing finding and reinstatement. They differ in emphasis: the right on the judge's appointment and the family connection, the left on the limits of executive power. ZeroHedge, the alternative source, largely tracks the ruling's details and adds the back-pay dates and performance ratings.
How the sides differ Right sources stress the judge's Obama appointment and her father's record; left sources highlight the rejection of executive power claims; alternative sources detail the ruling's reasoning and back pay.
Headline, comparison and summary written by AI from the articles below. AI can make mistakes, so check the original articles before relying on a detail.
MS NOW leads with the judge's reasoning, focusing on his rejection of the Justice Department's broad executive-authority theory and its reliance on the Trump immunity ruling.
ZeroHedge reports the ruling in detail, citing CBS News and the Daily Beast, including back-pay dates, the Epstein and Maxwell link, the ratification dispute and Comey's performance ratings.
The Blaze leads with the judge being an Obama appointee ordering the Trump DOJ to reinstate Comey's daughter, noting the judge said the attorney general may fire prosecutors but this firing was unlawful.