Justice Department Moves to Dismiss Maurene Comey’s Lawsuit, Citing Procedural Lapse

The Justice Department moved to dismiss a lawsuit filed by former federal prosecutor Maurene Comey, arguing she failed to exhaust administrative remedies by not first taking her claims to the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB).

“Comey alleges that the Trump administration fired her for political reasons, including her family ties to former FBI director James Comey”

Al Jazeera

DOJ lawyers said Comey should have appealed to the MSPB and that her assertion the appeal would be futile was incorrect, describing the MSPB as the proper administrative forum for her claims.

Al Jazeera

The filing follows Comey's July firing and her September lawsuit alleging her removal was politically motivated in part because she is the daughter of former FBI Director James Comey.

A hearing on the dispute was scheduled for Thursday in Manhattan before Judge Jesse M. Furman.

The Department of Justice's central legal argument, repeated across filings and reported widely, is that Comey must first seek redress at the MSPB because the board is the proper forum for personnel disputes and that an appeal would not have been futile.

Comey's attorneys counter that the MSPB lacks the expertise to resolve novel constitutional separation-of-powers questions and that the board is insufficiently independent from the president to be an adequate forum.

Associated Press

That clash - procedural requirement versus constitutional and independence concerns - is the heart of the parties' written submissions ahead of the Manhattan hearing.

Filings and reporting note the case is being handled differently because of recusals, with Albany U.S. Attorney John Sarcone overseeing the matter after New York prosecutors recused themselves.

“By LARRY NEUMEISTER, Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — The U”

Boulder Daily Camera

Several outlets underline Comey’s prosecutorial record while explaining who brought the suit and which entities are named.

The DOJ filing named the department and other federal offices, and the suit alleges political motivation for her July firing.

Reporting varies in detail about her prior cases; some cite the Ghislaine Maxwell conviction specifically, while others add bribery cases or the Sean Combs prosecution.

The dismissal request was presented in court papers and, according to at least one report, in a joint letter to Judge Jesse M. Furman ahead of the scheduled Manhattan hearing.

The Department of Justice asked the federal court to decline to decide the merits until the administrative route is exhausted.

Canon City Daily Record

Comey’s side argues that the administrative process would be inadequate to resolve the constitutional questions she raises.

That procedural posture — a jurisdictional, pre-merits fight over forum and exhaustion — is the immediate practical hurdle for Comey’s lawsuit.

Across the sampled coverage, tone and added context vary by source type.

“December 2, 2025 / 6:45 PM EST/ CBS/AP The Justice Department will seek to dismiss a lawsuit that former federal prosecutorMaurene Comey brought against it, arguing she didn't properly follow administrative complaint procedures before suing”

CBS News

Western mainstream outlets such as the Associated Press and local U.S. papers tend to emphasize procedural and local prosecutorial aspects.

CBS News

West Asian outlet Al Jazeera provides wider political framing and lists more named defendants and cases.

Smaller regional and local outlets largely reproduce the DOJ's dismissal argument and Comey's lawyers' response in similar language.

There is consistency that the dispute centers on exhaustion and MSPB adequacy, but sources vary in how much political context or background case detail they include.