Judge Rules FEMA Chief Financial Officer's Firing Violated Civil-Service Protections

U.S. District Judge Michael Nachmanoff ruled on July 17, 2026 that the administration violated the law when it dismissed Mary Comans, FEMA's former chief financial officer, without following civil-service removal procedures. Comans was one of four FEMA employees terminated in February 2025 after DHS accused them of authorizing payments tied to New York City migrant shelter costs; her termination notice invoked presidential authority under Article II rather than statutory procedures. Nachmanoff wrote that for the last 140 years the Supreme Court has affirmed the president does not have plenary power to remove inferior officers, and held that Article II could not be used to bypass procedures Congress established for career employees. He did not order reinstatement, instead finding Comans entitled to a name-clearing hearing whose structure remains unresolved.

The ruling draws a line around the administration's expansive removal-power argument. It comes weeks after the Supreme Court in Trump v. Slaughter allowed the removal of an FTC commissioner; Marquette law professor Christine Chabot told Newsweek that decision concerned principal officers and that the Court did not overrule United States v. Perkins, its 1886 decision upholding tenure protections for inferior officers.

The decision is a district-court ruling and subject to appeal. The Justice Department declined to comment and DHS did not respond to inquiries.