{"id":716,"date":"2026-05-29T23:41:49","date_gmt":"2026-05-29T23:41:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/?p=716"},"modified":"2026-05-29T23:41:49","modified_gmt":"2026-05-29T23:41:49","slug":"exasperated-judge-smacks-doj-lawyers-defense-of-trumps-behavior","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/?p=716","title":{"rendered":"Exasperated judge smacks DOJ lawyer’s defense of Trump’s behavior"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Politico reports a lawyer for the Justice Department stammered into a freeze when asked to justify President Donald Trump\u2019s unconstitutional power grab.<\/p>\n

Read more American culture is \u2018throwing up all over\u2019 sundowning Trump: analyst<\/a><\/p>\n

A pretrial Thursday conference over Maurene Comey\u2019s lawsuit against the Trump administration for her termination last summer delivered a cringy moment for the attorney, when she was asked about the problematic end-game of giving Trump power to fire federal employees over issues as gamey as their blood relations. In Maurene Comey\u2019s case, Comey argues that her relation to embattled former FBI head James Comey was the trigger for her firing.<\/p>\n

Comey, a longtime federal prosecutor in Manhattan, was abruptly fired without explanation via a letter citing only the Constitution\u2019s Article II, which outlines the powers of the president, as the basis for her firing. She alleged in her lawsuit that she lost her job \u201csolely or substantially because her father is former FBI Director James B. Comey, or because of her perceived political affiliation and beliefs, or both.\u201d<\/p>\n

DOJ lawyer Karen Lesperance argued before the court at the pretrial hearing that Comey\u2019s firing was valid \u201ceven if there were political motivations.\u201d<\/p>\n

But then Politico reports \u201cU.S. District Judge Jesse Furman pressed Lesperance on whether there are any limits to the president\u2019s Article II powers. Could the president, for example, decide to fire people in order to achieve an \u2018all-white executive branch? Or all-Black?\u2019 he asked.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more Trump had two hours to change his war \u2014 and he punted<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cLesperance stammered in response,\u201d reports Politico, eventually saying, \u201cI can\u2019t answer on behalf of the government.\u201d<\/p>\n

Judge Furman replied: \u201cYou\u2019re here representing the government.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Comey case highlights the broader constitutional crisis surrounding Trump’s use of Article II powers to purge federal employees. <\/p>\n

Legal experts have warned that unchecked presidential firing authority threatens the independence of federal agencies and civil service protections established over a century ago. The DOJ’s inability to articulate limits on Trump’s termination powers\u2014as demonstrated in Judge Furman’s courtroom\u2014suggests the administration may be pushing constitutional boundaries further than previous administrations. <\/p>\n

Maurene Comey’s lawsuit is one of several challenges to Trump’s personnel decisions. Her case raises fundamental questions about whether the president can fire federal employees based solely on family relationships or political beliefs, rather than job performance. The judge’s hypothetical about an “all-white” or “all-Black” executive branch underscores the stakes: without clear limits on Article II powers, presidents could theoretically use mass firings to reshape the federal government along partisan or discriminatory lines, undermining the civil service system designed to insulate government from pure political control.<\/p>\n

Read more Betrayed Trump-voting mom blasts president\u2019s \u2018through the roof\u2019 inflation<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Politico reports a lawyer for the Justice Department stammered into a freeze when asked to justify President Donald Trump\u2019s unconstitutional power grab.A pretrial Thursday conference over Maurene Comey\u2019s lawsuit against the Trump administration for her termination last summer delivered a cringy mome…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":715,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-716","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nExasperated judge smacks DOJ lawyer's defense of Trump's behavior - Next Address America<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/?p=716\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Exasperated judge smacks DOJ lawyer's defense of Trump's behavior - 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