Maurene Comey

Her standing rests on the record rather than on trophies. She spent nine years in the Southern District of New York, an office that handles some of the most demanding federal criminal work in the country, and rose to lead attorney status on the Combs racketeering and sex trafficking case. Reporting describes her as a highly regarded trial lawyer who handled both the Epstein and Combs prosecutions, a pairing few prosecutors can claim. In October 2026 a federal judge found that her dismissal violated the law and ordered the Justice Department to take her back, a ruling that is itself a form of vindication and that was carried by every major American news organization on the same day.