Judge Rules DOJ Illegally Fired Maurene Comey; James Comey Charged a Third Time; Ninth Circuit Tosses California Ballot Appeal: Oct 27

Better Call Claude Briefing — Oct 27, 2026

A federal judge in Manhattan ruled that the Justice Department illegally fired prosecutor Maurene Comey, and on the same day a sealed case was opened to the public showing the department has charged her father, former FBI Director James Comey, for a third time. The Ninth Circuit threw out the Justice Department's emergency appeal seeking to make California set aside about 20,000 ballots it says may belong to noncitizens. And in legal tech, Clio used its annual conference to fold its products into one AI-heavy platform. General news roundup only — not legal advice.

Judge rules the Justice Department illegally fired Maurene Comey

On Monday, October 26, U.S. District Judge Jesse Furman of the Southern District of New York ruled in a 55-page opinion that the Justice Department unlawfully fired Maurene Comey, a federal prosecutor in Manhattan for about a decade who worked on the Sean "Diddy" Combs, Jeffrey Epstein, and Ghislaine Maxwell cases. She was fired without explanation in July 2025, and her lawsuit says it was because of her father, former FBI Director James Comey, a prominent critic of President Trump. The administration argued that Article II gives the president unrestricted power to remove federal prosecutors. Furman disagreed, finding the firing violated the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978, the separation of powers, the Administrative Procedure Act, and her Fifth Amendment due process rights, and wrote that accepting the government's argument "would be to unsettle the very equilibrium established by this Nation's constitutional system." He retroactively reinstated her and ordered back pay from July 2025 through December 20, when she took a job at a private firm. The ruling isn't final: Furman hasn't yet decided her First Amendment claim and wants more briefing. A Justice Department spokesperson said the department "disagrees with this decision and will appeal in due course." Why it matters: it's one of the first full rulings in the wave of lawsuits by fired federal employees testing how far a president's removal power reaches over career civil servants.

Sources: AP News, CBS News, NPR

James Comey charged a third time, in a case filed under seal on the statute-of-limitations deadline

Hours later, a federal judge in Washington, D.C., unsealed United States v. Comey (No. 1:26-cr-00229) at James Comey's request, with no objection from the government. Prosecutors filed it on October 5, 2026, as a criminal information rather than a grand-jury indictment. It charges Comey with transmitting national defense information to someone not entitled to receive it under 18 U.S.C. § 793(d), and with conspiring to do so. The charges stem from an October 5, 2016, New York Times article about Yahoo and email surveillance; prosecutors allege Comey directed FBI staff to talk to the reporter to correct a Reuters story from the day before, "and thereby illegally transferred classified information." Comey's lawyers have moved to dismiss, arguing the 10-year statute of limitations ran out that same day and "explicitly demands an indictment," which an information isn't; they also say two separate U.S. Attorneys investigated the episode and declined to charge. The court hasn't ruled on dismissal. This is the third federal case against Comey: the first was dismissed, and a second, accusing him of threatening the president in a social media photo of seashells, is still pending. "I'm still innocent," Comey said in a video. Why it matters: whether filing an information can stop the clock on a deadline that requires an indictment is a significant procedural question, and the answer will decide whether this case survives at all.

Sources: NBC News, AP News, CNBC, NPR, Unsealing order (via MS NOW)

Ninth Circuit tosses DOJ's emergency bid to set aside 20,000 California ballots

Also on Monday, a divided Ninth Circuit panel dismissed the Justice Department's emergency appeal in United States v. California, a day after an unusual Sunday hearing. The department sued October 15 to stop California from counting about 20,000 ballots it says may belong to noncitizens, then on the evening of October 21 asked U.S. District Judge David Carter to rule by noon the next day, before appealing. In an unsigned 2-1 order, the panel said it had no jurisdiction because the government gave the trial judge only about 15 hours, adding that "the United States' claimed emergency, at least in part, is a self-constructed one." Judge Mark Bennett, a Trump appointee, wrote that the government would likely lose anyway, because the federal ban on noncitizen voting doesn't override California's own election procedures. Judge Gabriel Sanchez stressed that sequestering tens of thousands of ballots mid-election isn't feasible. Judge Patrick Bumatay dissented, saying the looming election was enough to give the appeals court jurisdiction. The case goes back to Judge Carter, who scheduled a hearing in Los Angeles for Tuesday afternoon, October 27. Why it matters: with the November 3 election a week away, California counties keep processing ballots under state law while the trial court takes up the dispute.

Sources: Courthouse News, AP News, Politico

Legal tech: Clio puts everything in one AI platform, Jones Day signs with Draftwise

At ClioCon 2026 in Boston on Monday, practice-management company Clio announced it is merging Clio Grow, Clio Manage, and Clio Work into a single interface, available in November, so lawyers can move from client intake through drafting, billing, and payments in one place. It also unveiled Clio Phones, an AI business phone system that can answer calls, pull up the caller's matter, and record, transcribe, and summarize conversations into the client file; agentic AI drafting for documents and court forms; a document management system called Documents Pro; Clio Docket for federal and state court filings; and the acquisition of Page, a legislative and regulatory tracking platform. The ABA Journal reported the conference drew about 3,000 people in person. Separately, Jones Day announced it will deploy Draftwise's Ontonomi legal-ontology platform across multiple practice areas to organize the firm's precedents and past deal experience. Why it matters: for small firms and solo lawyers, who make up much of Clio's customer base, AI that records calls and drafts documents raises new questions about client consent, confidentiality, and checking the output before it goes out.

Sources: Legal IT Insider, ABA Journal, Law.com, Draftwise

Not legal advice

This Briefing is a general news summary from Better Call Claude (bettercallclaude.org) and is not legal advice and does not create an attorney-client relationship. For help with your situation, consult a licensed attorney in your jurisdiction.