A federal judge ruled Monday that the Trump administration unlawfully fired Maurene Comey, a former federal prosecutor and the daughter of former FBI director James Comey.[14, 17, 22] U.S. District Judge Jesse Furman ordered that Comey be retroactively reinstated to her post and given back pay.[20, 26, 31] Comey was fired from the Justice Department in July 2025, which she said came without notice or explanation.[32, 36]
She worked as an assistant U.S. attorney in Manhattan for about a decade, handling cases including those of Ghislaine Maxwell and Sean Combs.[3, 10, 36] Judge Furman rejected the administration's argument that it had constitutional authority to fire her, according to The Hill and Newsweek.[18, 20]
Why it matters The ruling orders the Justice Department to retroactively reinstate Maurene Comey and pay her back pay.[26, 31]
Covered by The New York Times, NBC News, The Wall Street Journal and 32 more
Of the 31 rated outlets that covered it, 9 are left of center, 12 are center and 10 are right of center (8 of them in the Right group). 4 more are not rated.
Left 9 of 42
Center 12 of 33
Right 10 of 38
← LeftCenter outlets covered it most (C 12 · L 9 · R 10)Right →
Where the outlets sit
0Left9Leans left12Center2Leans right8Right
Left: none.
Leans left: AlterNet (−1.16), The New Republic (−1.09), HuffPost (−1.06), Raw Story (−0.94), MS NOW (−0.76), The New York Times (−0.70), The Guardian (−0.70), NPR (−0.68), The Daily Beast (−0.64).
Leans right: The Wall Street Journal (+0.63), New York Post (+0.64).
Right: The Washington Times (+1.27), Washington Examiner (+1.34), Fox News (+1.52), IJR (+1.52), Blaze Media (+1.71), The Daily Caller (+1.91), Conservative Review (+2.76), The Right Scoop (+3.11).
Not rated Financial Times, Los Angeles Times, BBC News, Al Jazeera. Not placed: they have no lean score.
Each dot is an outlet that covered it, placed by its audience-lean score (Eady et al. 2025), which measures who shares its links, not how accurate it is. The ticks under the line are all 113 rated outlets Tare reads.
On Oct. 26, 2026, U.S. District Judge Jesse Furman in Manhattan issued a 55-page ruling that the Justice Department unlawfully fired Maurene Comey as an assistant U.S. attorney in July 2025. The department conceded the removal was not for cause or based on performance and that she received no advance notice or chance to respond. Furman found the firing violated the Civil Service Reform Act’s limits on removing assistant U.S. attorneys, as well as administrative law and due-process protections. He rejected the administration’s claim that Article II of the Constitution gave unbounded power to fire her, writing that the argument ran against nearly two centuries of Supreme Court precedent and would “unsettle the very equilibrium established by this Nation’s constitutional system.” He ordered retroactive reinstatement, back pay through about Dec. 20, 2025, restoration of pension benefits for that period, and an update to her personnel file to show resignation rather than firing. Comey has taken another job and will not return to the department. A Justice Department spokesperson told Fox News the department disagreed and would appeal.[10, 20, 25, 27]
Background
Comey had served about a decade in the Southern District of New York, working on high-profile prosecutions including those of Ghislaine Maxwell, Sean Combs, and Jeffrey Epstein. She is the daughter of former FBI Director James Comey, whom President Trump fired in 2017. She sued after her dismissal, saying there was no reason besides her father’s identity or her perceived political affiliation. The administration argued that recent Supreme Court rulings on presidential removal power over agency leaders applied and that the attorney general could fire her at will. Furman, an Obama appointee and former prosecutor in the same office, held that those precedents cover principal officers and do not erase congressional limits on assistant U.S. attorneys. James Comey faces a separate federal case over a social-media post.[10, 20, 25, 27]
How the coverage differs
Left-leaning outlets such as AlterNet, HuffPost, Raw Story, The Daily Beast, The Guardian, The New Republic, and The New York Times framed the decision as a stinging or humiliating defeat, stressed Comey’s praised work on major cases, and tied the firing to political targeting of James Comey’s family or broader DOJ personnel moves. Center outlets including The Hill, Newsweek, ABC, NBC, PBS, CNBC, and Forbes focused on the legal holding, the rejected Article II theory, the CSRA, and the remedy of back pay and a corrected personnel file. Right-leaning outlets such as Fox News, Blaze Media, Conservative Review, The Daily Caller, the New York Post, and The Washington Times repeatedly identified Furman as an Obama appointee, noted the administration’s concession that the firing was not for cause, highlighted the expected appeal, and referenced James Comey as a longtime Trump critic or the related “86 47” prosecution. Several right-leaning pieces also mentioned Furman’s prior rulings involving the administration.[1, 2, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 17, 18, 19, 20, 23, 25, 27, 28]
What's still unclear
Furman did not rule on Comey’s First Amendment claim that the firing was because of her father or perceived politics. Whether an appeals court or the Supreme Court will accept the administration’s broader removal theory remains open. The precise duration of back pay and how the personnel-file change will be implemented are set by the order but have not been publicly detailed beyond the four-month window before her new job. The Justice Department’s full public response beyond a statement of disagreement was not available in the reporting reviewed.[20, 25]
Written by Grok from the full articles, at a reader's request. AI can get details wrong; check the sources.
