Jeanine Pirro Moves From Fox Firebrand to the DC District Bench
Ben Thomson, LawFuel contributing editor
There are career arcs, and then there’s Jeanine Pirro’s: a former assistant DA turned DA turned judge turned cable news flamethrower—and now DC District Court Judge.
But beneath the peroxide headlines and Fox News rants lies a formidable legal record that deserves more than just a raised eyebrow. Pirro wasn’t always shouting at camera lenses or dramatically waving a pen. She spent over 30 years in the legal trenches.
Jeanine Pirro’s Legal Career & Its Star Turns
Jeanine Pirro, ex-Fox News host, former Westchester DA and judge, and bestselling crime author, has been appointed to the DC District Court in a move that’s left legal observers somewhere between baffled and bemused. From mafia-busting prosecutor to MAGA megaphone to federal judge—this is the rollercoaster CV you didn’t see coming.
She has been serving as interim U.S. attorney but following a Senate vote her role has been confirmed, against Democrat opposition.
President Trump selected Jeanine Pirro after withdrawing his nomination for Ed Martin (pictured) a defender of Capitol rioters who was with withdrawn when Republicans were unsure about his willingness to investigate various Democrats, academic institutions and critics of Elon Musk.
She has supported the Presidents efforts and policies, including challenges to federal judges who have questioned the legality of immigration policies and was also one of the parties named in a lawsuit brought by Dominion Voting Systems for questioning the validity of ballot tabulations on Fox’s broadcasts.
Democrats were not happy.
“To me, this is yet another deep insult to the dignity and the decency of Washington, D.C.,” said Sen. Cory Booker another member of the judiciary panel.
MSNBC, a strong critics on many occasions of the Trump presidency and its operatives, quoted Barbara McQuade, a University of Michigan Law School professor and a former U.S. attorney, who recently made the case that the president will use Pirro “as a tool of retribution in our nation’s capital.”
Although a strong Trump supporter, to say the least, she also has a strong record as a crusading prosecuting attorney as well as a colorful legal and media figure.
The DA Years – Pirro Prosecuting With Teeth
Pirro began her legal career in 1975 in the Westchester County District Attorney’s office. In a sea of grey suits, she stood out—not just because she was a woman in a man’s world, but because she developed a reputation as an effective prosecutor, prosecuting domestic violence and sex crimes, long before such hot button issues were deemed politically sexy.
Appointed as a judge in 1990, and later elected as Westchester County’s first female District Attorney in 1993, she built a national reputation as a no-nonsense prosecutor overseeing some high profile cases and continuing to exhibit a tough stance on crime, whether it was domestic violence, child abuse or murder.
She also enjoyed the happy advantage of being a telegenic, media-friendly persona, quickly made her a go-to legal commentator and which accelerated her subsequent FOX career.
She handled some notable cases, including the Katonah babysitter murder, a brutal killing that shocked suburban New York and ended with a conviction driven largely by Pirro’s DA office. Another was her aggressively pursued Anthony DiSimone, a reputed mob associate, in the 1996 murder of Louis Balancio. The case would later come under scrutiny due to withheld evidence, an episode that critics say showed Pirro’s occasionally overzealous prosecutorial style.
She once said, “If you hurt a child, I will prosecute you to the fullest extent of the law—and then some.” Which might explain why she had a 100 percent conviction rate in some units under her tenure.
The Political Years: Ambition, Interrupted
Her 2006 run for New York Attorney General was torpedoed by poor polling, missteps, and the lingering stench of her husband’s federal tax fraud conviction.
Her earlier attempt to challenge Hillary Clinton for Senate imploded after she famously lost a page of her speech mid-announcement. (Seriously. Look it up. It’s a masterclass in televised horror.)
And yet, she bounced back, mostly thanks to cable news and a mental toughness that might have seen off lesser beings.
The Fox News Years: Gavel Meets Grapeshot
Pirro’s Justice with Judge Jeanine became appointment television for a certain red-hat-wearing crowd. She delivered monologues that were half-legal commentary, half-nationalistic sermon. If Lady Justice is supposed to wear a blindfold, it soon altered with Pirro replacing it with an American flag bandana and a microphone.
Her television reach was highly successful, reaching millions weekly and helping to shape public opinion during the Trump years.
Once again, a zealous approach to her calling could become controversial, such as the suspension that followed remarks about a Muslim congresswoman. In other words, exactly the temperament you’d want in a neutral federal judge.
The Authorship: True Crime with a Side of Sass
Pirro’s legal background lent authenticity to her bestselling books. Her 2012 novel Sly Fox (no pun intended?) and its sequel Clever Fox featured a sassy prosecutor protagonist named Dani Fox—basically Jeanine with fewer FCC fines.
She’s also written He Killed Them All: Robert Durst and My Quest for Justice, based on her long-standing interest in the notorious Durst case, which she followed and investigated as DA.
There is little question that Jeanine Pirro’s role as DC’s top federal prosecutor will continue to attraft attention and headlines, probably in equal measure.
