Trump probably 'violated the law' when he fired independent watchdogs, judge says

The fired inspectors general are challenging their dismissals in court.

A federal judge Thursday afternoon said she is unlikely to reinstate eight former inspectors general who were fired by the Trump administration in January, even if it's determined that president broke federal law when he removed them from their jobs without notifying Congress.

“I do not see how I can reinstate the IGs even if I find that the statute is constitutional,” Judge Ana Reyes said during a hearing in a Washington, D.C. federal district court in a case brought by the inspectors general, challenging their termination. “I think what we would be dealing with maybe would be either back pay, or something of the sort.”

When Judge Reyes pressed a lawyer for the Department of Justice about whether Trump followed the law when he failed to notify Congress about the firings, the attorney agreed that the president did not comply with the text of the statute related to terminating inspectors general.

“There's not any real dispute that that just violated the law, right, government?” Judge Reyes asked.

“What I would say is we don't dispute that the president did not comply with the sentence in the statute calling for congressional notice,” said DOJ attorney Jeremy Newman, who instead argued that the law does not require congressional notice.

When Newman attempted to argue that notifying Congress was not a requirement to fire the watchdogs, Judge Reyes pushed back.

“As I've been reminded a lot recently, English is my second language, but I think I know where a period ends a sentence,” Reyes said before repeating the text of the law and suggesting that she disagreed with the DOJ's interpretation of it.

“I think you can all agree that this is not a decent way to treat anyone,” Reyes said about the sudden firings. “The question is whether it was legal.”