Who says the judge has left Fox ? Don't order a shroud yet, I saw him on Fox just yesterday and am looking forward to seeing him again today.
Sure, sometimes people move on with their own careers..Glen Beck, Alan Combes, Andrea Mitchell,ED Hill and others have moved on That doesn't mean Fox fired them...usually they figured they were making a career enhancing move. I would think that if the judge were to leave Fox, it would be his choice, since he is immensely popular. Just use the 'gray-matter; obviously, Fox would not fire this immensely popular figure...Fox didn't climb to the top of the heap by doing stupid things..
As far as the crap about " deviating from the party line" goes..what is the party line ? What is the party line of Bob Beckel..a member of "the Five"..popular discussion group ? Surely, O'Reilly doesn't toe any "party line"..and he is the most popular of his type in all of TV land.
Admittedly, Fox tends to present the conservative side of things more often than the "alphabet networks" do, but we should remember as many say , "the US is a center-right electorate". If you want to see an example of 'party line'..just try PMSNBC, CNN or CBS...