Andrew P. Napolitano

Federal government materially interfering with lawful dissent in Portland

The U.S. Constitution and federal law prohibit the introduction of the military into domestic law enforcement unless requested by the state legislature or the governor. Both the Portland mayor and the Oregon governor have asked the feds to go home.

July 29, 2020

How totalitarianism begins in the U.S.

The feds' activities are unconstitutional because they are using government force to arrest people without probable cause or arrest warrants. There is no legal basis for these "arrests," as they have not charged anyone.

July 22, 2020

A brief history of the freedom of speech in America

As the framers understood, all persons have a natural right to think as we wish and to say and publish whatever we think. Even hateful, hurtful and harmful speech is protected speech.

July 15, 2020

America’s tyrants and anarchists squeeze personal liberties in a vise

This summer in America, we are approaching the end of a civilized and free society as we have known it.

July 8, 2020

Revolutionary spirit of individual liberty with minimal government embraced America in 1776

Are all men created equal or are they not? Does the government have our consent or does it not? Are our liberties natural to our existence or are they not?

July 1, 2020

Tearing down statues risks rewriting American history and forgetting its slavery roots

I am amazed at the efforts around the country to remove and destroy painful mementos of our history. When a statue is erected to a historical figure, the erection is a statement about the balance of the person's life worth. It is not a claim of perfection.

June 24, 2020

Tyrannical governors ignore Constitution’s protection of religious freedom

Here is a pop quiz on the U.S. Constitution. What is the first freedom protected by the Bill of Rights? The first protected freedom is religion. The tyrannical behavior of many state governors has ignored this.

June 17, 2020

Don’t go to work, don’t go to church and don’t gather, unless the government approves

Today, we are the government's prisoners. Wear your mask. Stay at home. Don't go to work. Don't open your business. Don't go to church.

June 10, 2020

America is under attack from three deadly viruses: COVID-19, hubris and racism

The late historian Chalmers Johnson observed that if we fail to eliminate racism and hubris in the government, we will pay dearly.

June 3, 2020

The government has no right to determine what goods, services or venues are essential

Some of us are willing to take chances and even do "nonessential" things. The essence of the freedoms for which we have fought since 1776 is the liberty to be ourselves.

May 27, 2020

What if the U.S. government has it all wrong about the COVID-19 pandemic?

What if the government has it wrong -- on the medicine and the law? What if face masks can't stop the COVID-19 virus? What if quarantining the healthy makes no medical sense? What if staying at home for months reduces immunity?

May 20, 2020

Why Americans must stop acting like sheep and tell the government to take a hike

Does the government work for us or do we work for the government? Formally, it works for us. We elect officials because we trust their judgment.

May 13, 2020

U.S. Constitution shredded by dangerous elected officials during COVID-19 pandemic

The current interferences with the exercise of rights protected by the Bill of Rights devolve around travel, assembly, interstate commercial activities and the exercise of religious beliefs.

May 6, 2020

In COVID-19 America, freedom is a privilege subject to government permission slips

All elected state governors in power today have nullified the freedom-protecting clauses of the Constitution. If those clauses can be nullified, then of what value are they?

April 29, 2020

During COVID-19 pandemic, New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy blatantly ignores the Constitution

Mr. Murphy is unfit for office for violating his solemn public oath and the public trust and for trampling human freedom.

April 22, 2020

Do governors have the right to decide which human activities are essential?

During the past month, as Americans have been terrified of the coronavirus, another demon has been lurking ready to pounce. It is a demon of our own creation. It is the now amply manifested inability of elected officials to resist the temptation of totalitarianism.

April 15, 2020

During these dark days, government must protect freedom and not assault it

Like the colonists who fought the oppression of the king, we the living can achieve our hopes only if we have freedom. And that requires a government that protects freedom, not one that assaults it.

April 8, 2020

Taking constitutional rights seriously during COVID-19 pandemic

Unless we follow the Constitution, crisis produces fear, and fear produces madness, and madness produces those who become a law unto themselves.

April 1, 2020

What good are constitutional rights if they are violated when Americans get sick?

You want to bring the family to visit grandma? You want to go to work? You want to celebrate Mass? These are all now prohibited in one-third of the United States.

March 25, 2020

Draconian coronavirus closures of restaurants threatens due process granted by Constitution

The coronavirus pandemic, which ravaged portions of China and Italy, has arrived in the United States and our central planners have panicked.

March 18, 2020