Dem
47
GOP
53
Yesterday, we had an item about how the DoJ is going after James Comey again. Turns out he is not the only Comey in the news. His daughter, Maurene Comey, is also in the news. And it opens a big can of worms.
In places like Russia, if Dear Leader doesn't like someone, it is not uncommon that not only is that person punished, but so is his family. Maybe Vladimir Putin gave Donald Trump a tip about that last time they met. Maurene was a graduate of the Harvard Law School and a federal prosecutor at SDNY, and a very good one at that. She handled over 100 cases, many of them high profile, and had an excellent track record. She was one of the stars at SDNY. On July 16, 2025, Trump had her fired, citing Art. II of the Constitution, which gives him the power to fire people he doesn't like and if they are not available, then their kids. Not surprisingly, Maurene sued the government.
Normally government labor disputes go to the Merit Systems Protection Board, but that agency is completely swamped because Trump has refused to fully staff it—to make it effectively impossible for government employees illegally fired to appeal their firing. However, Comey is an experienced lawyer and understands this stuff. Her suit said that because the letter that fired her cited the president's Art. II powers, she didn't have to go to the MSPB, but could go directly to federal court.
On Tuesday, U.S. District Court Judge Jesse Furman, a Barack Obama appointee, ruled that Comey was right and because Trump had her fired based on his Art. II powers, Comey could seek redress in federal court. Comey was thrilled with his decision. This gives her the opportunity to make a separation-of-powers argument in court. She will claim that Congress passed a law saying that the president may not fire civil servants, like herself, on a whim so Trump has no authority to fire anyone other than political appointees subject to Senate confirmation. If she wins, large numbers of civil servants Trump has fired will immediately file federal lawsuits.
Furman's decision isn't the first one on this subject. Early in Trump v2.0, Trump fired the CFO of FEMA, Mary Comans. She also sued and 2 weeks ago, U.S. District Judge Michael Nachmanoff in Virginia made a similar ruling.
Hundreds, maybe thousands, of former government employees are likely to sue in federal court now. In the end, the Supreme Court is going to have to decide if the 1883 Pendleton Act, which created the civil service, is constitutional. The government is going to argue that the law is unconstitutional because Congress has no authority to tell the president he can't fire any government employee for any reason, or no reason, just because he got out of bed in the morning in a bad mood. If Trump wins, we go back to Andrew Jackson and the spoils system, in which a new president could fire every government employee on Day 1 and put in his own people. A merit-based civil service would then vanish in the blink of an eye.
Needless to say, Trump does not think (or care) about long-term consequences. If the Court gives the president unlimited power to fire civil servants just because he wants to, Democrats are going to start making lists of civil servants they want fired on Day 1 if a Democrat is elected president in 2028. Of course, a mass-firing of every civil servant Trump appointed, and every agency head he appointed, would make Republicans furious. Maybe even so angry that they would support a constitutional amendment giving Congress the power to protect certain government employees and create federal agencies that are independent of the president. Be careful what you wish for, and all that. (V)