Judge Orders $120,000 Back Pay For Prosecutor Fired By Trump Team

US District Judge Jesse Furman ordered the Trump administration to pay back wages to former federal prosecutor Maurene Comey, ruling on Monday that her termination was unlawful. The decision grants Comey compensation from her firing date of July 16, 2025, through December of that year. She is also entitled to retroactive reinstatement for that specific period.

Furman determined that the executive branch overstepped its authority by dismissing what the government calls inferior officers without cause. The judge rejected the administration's claim that the president held unlimited power to remove such staff, regardless of protections established by Congress. In his written opinion, Furman stated that accepting the government's position would unsettle the constitutional equilibrium of the nation.

The ruling challenges the administration's theory of expansive executive power. Furman noted that the defendants invented this new framework to remove executive branch employees who had long held protections from dismissal. He dismissed the argument that federal prosecutors serve as an extension of the president's conclusive powers. Instead, he found that the firing violated federal laws prohibiting the termination of civil servants for political reasons.

Maurene Comey served as an assistant US attorney in Manhattan since 2015. During her tenure, she prosecuted high-profile cases involving Jeffrey Epstein, Ghislaine Maxwell, and Sean Combs. Her legal team argued that her position was eliminated due to President Trump's antipathy toward her father, James Comey, the former FBI director who has become a visible critic of the president.

The Justice Department has maintained that the president has wide latitude to fire federal employees without cause. In response to Monday's decision, the administration stated it disagrees with the ruling and will appeal in due course. The ruling represents a setback for a second-term effort to reduce the federal workforce and remove prosecutors involved in cases the president disputes.

The dismissal of Maurene Comey occurs against a backdrop of legal friction between the White House and her father. James Comey was fired during Trump's first term while the FBI investigated links between the campaign and Russia. Following a social media post in September 2025 where Trump called for charges against his critics, the Justice Department indicted James Comey for lying to Congress.

A judge dismissed those initial charges in November 2025, finding that prosecutor Lindsey Halligan had been unlawfully appointed. In April 2026, James Comey faced a separate charge alleging he threatened the president by posting an image of seashells arranged to form the numbers 86 and 47. The administration argued the numbers referenced organized crime and Trump's position as the 47th president, while Comey described the case as political persecution.