Andrew P. Napolitano

The Mueller investigation rolls on

The nation has paused this week from its toxic political battles to remember the kindness and gentleness of President George H.W. Bush. He was kind to Bill Clinton, who defeated him in 1992, and to Ross Perot, whose unusual entry into the presidential race that year siphoned conservative voters away from Mr. Bush and enabled Mr. Clinton to amass a majority of electoral votes with only 43 percent of the popular vote. The Bush I knew was the post-presidential one, who, by all appearances, harbored no bitterness or sense of defeat.

December 5, 2018

When Trump was tempted to change federal law, Chief Justice Roberts stepped in

When Donald Trump became president, he swore an oath to uphold the U.S. Constitution and enforce federal laws "faithfully." James Madison, who was the scrivener at the Constitutional Convention, insisted on using the word "faithfully" in the presidential oath and including the oath in the body of the Constitution because he knew that presidents would face the temptation to disregard laws they dislike.

November 28, 2018

What if on Thanksgiving our gratitude is not to the government but to God?

What if the government's true goal is to perpetuate itself? What if the real levers of governmental power are pulled by agents and diplomats and by bureaucrats and central bankers behind the scenes? What if they stay in power no matter who is elected president or which political party controls either house of Congress?

November 21, 2018

There’s clear statutory language that makes Whitaker ineligible to be acting attorney general

Last week's surprise forced resignation of Jeff Sessions as attorney general of the United States set in motion a series of events that will soon resonate in all corners of the Department of Justice.

November 14, 2018

What will the Democrats do with their new house?

The Democratic Party has won control of the House of Representatives. Its members effectively will be able to block all legislation that the Senate passes and the president wants. They also will be able to unleash their subpoena power mercilessly on the Executive Branch. Will the members of the new majority view their victory primarily as an opportunity to legislate or as a chance to investigate?

November 7, 2018

Donald Trump’s words have given comfort to the worst among us

I was sitting at Mass last Sunday in a cavernous Catholic church on Manhattan's Upper West Side near Lincoln Center, praying and thinking about the horrible events in America last week.

October 31, 2018

Blanket rejection by force of everyone in the caravan violates the spirit of the Constitution

In Jean Raspail's 1973 dystopian novel, "The Camp of the Saints," about 1 million poor folks from India make their way on hundreds of ships around the southern tip of Africa and up to the French Riviera. The international media use helicopters to follow the flotilla, and the news of the flotilla's movements dominates the headlines for weeks.

October 24, 2018

There’s no legal basis to punish the rough-and-tumble speech that Trump employs

The litigation brought by Stormy Daniels against Donald Trump has had its day of reckoning. The adult-film star who sued the president for defamation not only lost a portion of her lawsuit but was ordered to pay the president's legal bills. All this was a resounding victory for the freedom of speech.

October 17, 2018

Trouble may lie ahead if Kavanaugh’s views on the Fourth Amendment weren’t discussed

What if we have a right to insist that judges be neutral and open-minded rather than partisan and predisposed to a particular ideology? What if presidential candidates promise to nominate judges and justices who they believe will embrace certain ideologies?

October 10, 2018

Supreme Court should not be political because its role is to safeguard personal liberty

Harsh winds are blowing on Capitol Hill. The hoped-for and feared clash between Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh and his principal accuser, Christine Blasey Ford, has come and gone, with all of its calculated and spontaneous outbursts, as well as gut-wrenching emotion.

October 3, 2018

Is this any way to confirm a Supreme Court justice?

Until two weeks ago, President Donald Trump's nomination of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to a seat on the U.S. Supreme Court seemed a sure thing. He ably handled more than 1,200 questions put to him by members of the Senate Judiciary Committee. He demonstrated even to his adversaries a masterful command of constitutional jurisprudence. The FBI had completed six background investigations of Judge Kavanaugh throughout his career in government, and it found no blemishes.

September 26, 2018

Donald Trump surely fears what Paul Manafort will tell Robert Mueller

If you have been following the serious destruction brought about by Hurricane Florence in North Carolina and the political turmoil caused by the allegations of teen-age sexual misconduct made by Christine Blasey Ford against Judge Brett Kavanaugh, along with his firm and unbending denials, you might have missed a profound event in a federal courtroom in the nation's capital late last week.

September 19, 2018

Donald Trump and the rule of law

Last week, The New York Times published a scathing critique of Donald Trump — the man and the president. The Times said the critique was written by a senior Trump administration official who insisted on remaining unnamed. This bitter and harsh opinion piece, which portrays the president as dangerous to the health of the republic and his White House as slouching toward dysfunctionality, has understandably infuriated him.

September 12, 2018

Trump’s presence was in that church as powerfully as if he had physically been there

Last week, I was intrigued by all the fanfare attendant upon the national farewell to the late Sen. John McCain. I have written in this space that Mr. McCain and I were friends who spoke many times, but generally only about the issues upon which we agreed — abortion, immigration and torture.

September 5, 2018

John McCain and me

About four years ago, I was browsing through one of Manhattan's last remaining independent bookstores, when my cellphone rang. I didn't recognize the incoming telephone number, with its 202 area code, but I assumed it was a Fox News colleague from our Washington bureau.

August 29, 2018

Interviewing the president

When federal prosecutors are nearing the end of criminal investigations, they often invite the subjects of those investigations to speak with them.

August 8, 2018

Trump sabotaged by his own lawyer

In the past week, former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, now the chief lawyer and principal spokesman for President Donald Trump's legal team, has offered arguments more harmful to Mr. Trump than helpful. In a series of combative, disjointed and logically challenged television rants, Mr. Giuliani has essentially argued that Mr. Trump did not engage in any conspiracy with the Russians for them to provide help to his campaign and that even if he did, it wasn't criminal.

August 1, 2018

Remembering a father, husband and veteran

Last week, in Ridgewood, New Jersey, a 92-year-old unsung American patriot lost his battle with congestive heart failure. He had been surrounded by his wife and children and their spouses and their children. He left this vale of tears in his wife's arms, peacefully and with dignity.

July 25, 2018

In defense of Trump with Putin

As a trial judge in New Jersey during the Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush years, I spent much of my time trying to settle cases. This process involved bringing into my chambers the lawyers for the disputants and asking them in the absence of their adversaries to lay their cards on the table.

July 18, 2018

Trump rewards swamp denizens by nominating one of their own to the Supreme Court

When Donald Trump started running for the Republican nomination for president in June 2015, he began by attacking the Republican establishment in Washington, and he began his attack by calling the establishment "the swamp."

July 11, 2018