Andrew P. Napolitano

ANDREW NAPOLITANO: Chris Christie, Rand Paul clash on Fourth Amendment

The dust-up between New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul over presidential fidelity to the Constitution -- particularly the Fourth Amendment -- was the most illuminating two minutes of the Republican debate last week.

August 12, 2015

ANDREW NAPOLITANO: The dark side of Planned Parenthood

The recent broadcast of videotapes taken of persons employed at Planned Parenthood -- the prolific and notorious abortion provider -- has brought the issue of abortion to the national consciousness again, and front and center to the Republican presidential primary campaign. The tapes were made secretly by a pro-life group determined to show to the world the dark side of Planned Parenthood's use of federal funds.

August 5, 2015

ANDREW NAPOLITANO: Hillary Clinton lies about emails again

In a column I wrote in early July, based on research by my colleagues and my own analysis of government documents and eyewitness statements, I argued that in 2011 and 2012 Secretary of State Hillary Clinton waged a secret war on the governments of Libya and Syria, with the approval of President Obama and the consent of congressional leadership from both parties and in both houses of Congress.

July 29, 2015

ANDREW NAPOLITANO: Hillary’s secret war

In the course of my work, I am often asked by colleagues to review and explain documents and statutes. Recently, in conjunction with my colleagues Catherine Herridge and Pamela Browne, I read the transcripts of an interview Ms. Browne did with a man named Marc Turi, and Ms. Herridge asked me to review emails to and from State Department and congressional officials during the years when Hillary Clinton was the secretary of state.

July 1, 2015

ANDREW NAPOLITANO: Protecting hatred preserves freedom

The tragedy of a mass murder in Charleston, South Carolina, last week, obviously motivated by racial hatred, has raised anew the issue of the lawfulness of the State expressing an opinion by flying a Confederate flag at the Statehouse, and the constitutionality of the use of the First Amendment to protect hate speech and hate groups. The State has no business expressing opinions on anything, and it is required to protect hate. Here is the law.

June 24, 2015

ANDREW NAPOLITANO: More to Benghazi than officials want to uncover

What if President Obama secretly agreed with others in the government in 2011 to provide arms to rebels in Libya and Syria? What if the scheme called for American arms merchants to sell serious American military hardware to the government of Qatar, which would and did transfer it to rebel groups? What if the U.S. Department of State and the U.S. Department of the Treasury approved those sales?

June 17, 2015

ANDREW NAPOLITANO: Freedom Act fails to curtail NSA snooping

Last week, Republicans and Democrats in Congress joined President Obama in congratulating themselves for taming the National Security Agency's voracious appetite for spying. By permitting one section of the Patriot Act to expire and by replacing it with the USA Freedom Act, the federal government is taking credit for taming beasts of its own creation.

June 10, 2015

ANDREW NAPOLITANO: Spying does not mean security

In their continuous efforts to create the impression that the government is doing something to keep Americans safe, politicians in Washington have misled and lied to the public. They have violated their oaths to uphold the Constitution. They have created a false sense of security. And they have dispatched and re-dispatched 60,000 federal agents to intercept the telephone calls, text messages and emails of all Americans all the time.

June 3, 2015

ANDREW NAPOLITANO: Let Patriot Act expire, save the Fourth Amendment

The Patriot Act has a bad pedigree and an evil history. In the fearful days immediately following Sept. 11, 2001, the Department of Justice quickly sent draft legislation to Congress that, if enacted, would have permitted federal agents to violate their oaths to uphold the Constitution by writing their own search warrants. The draft subsequently was revealed to have been written before Sept. 11, but that's another story.

May 27, 2015

ANDREW NAPOLITANO: What if we didn’t have a Constitution?

What if we didn't have a Constitution? What if the government were elected by custom and tradition, but not by law? What if election procedures and official titles and government responsibilities merely followed those that preceded them, and not because any of this was compelled by law, but because that's what folks came to expect?

May 20, 2015

ANDREW NAPOLITANO: Rand Paul and Ted Cruz on the Patriot Act

A decision last week about National Security Agency spying by a panel of judges on the United States Court of Appeals in New York City sent shock waves through the government. The court ruled that a section of the Patriot Act that is due to expire at the end of this month and on which the government has relied as a basis for its bulk acquisition of telephone data during the past 14 years does not authorize that acquisition.

May 13, 2015

ANDREW NAPOLITANO: Repeal of the Patriot Act would restore the Fourth Amendment

If you plan to visit a college campus this month, don't be surprised if you see signs and placards encouraging you to "Restore the Fourth." It is not about an athletic event or a holiday; it is about human freedom. The reference to "the Fourth" is to the Fourth Amendment, and it is badly in need of restoration.

May 6, 2015

ANDREW NAPOLITANO: Tyranny of Obama’s drone killings

Thomas Cromwell was the principal behind-the-scenes fixer for much of the reign of King Henry VIII. He engineered the interrogations, convictions and executions of many whom Henry needed out of the way, including his two predecessors as fixer and even the king's second wife, Queen Anne.

April 29, 2015

ANDREW NAPOLITANO: FBI diverts public attention from wiretap violations, false testimony

Does the FBI manifest fidelity, bravery and integrity, or does it cut constitutional corners in order to incriminate? Can the FBI cut the cable television lines to your house and then show up pretending to be the cable guy and install listening devices? Can FBI agents and technicians testify falsely and cause the innocent to be convicted, incarcerated and, in some cases, executed?

April 22, 2015

ANDERW NAPOLITANO: Can the president kill Americans? Yes, but not legally

Can the president kill you? The short answer is: yes, but not legally. Yet, President Obama has established a secret process that involves officials from the departments of Justice and Defense, the CIA, and the White House senior staff whereby candidates are proposed for execution, and the collective wisdom of the officials then recommends execution to the president, who then accepts or rejects the recommendation.

April 15, 2015

ANDREW NAPOLITANO: Indiana religious law solved nonexistent problem

The turmoil over the efforts by the state of Indiana to make lawful the decisions by operators of public accommodations to decline their services based on their stated religious views has died down. The legislature amended the offending parts of its legislation so that the new law prohibits denying services based on sexual orientation, yet its affirmations of religious liberty are meaningless.

April 8, 2015

ANDREW NAPOLITANO: Indiana’s religious freedom act sets back the clock

The Indiana Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 2015 is constitutionally infirm and legally troublesome.

April 1, 2015

ANDREW NAPOLITANO: Amending the Constitution by wink and nod

Here is a short pop quiz.

March 25, 2015

ANDREW NAPOLITANO: Is Hillary Clinton above the law?

What if Hillary Clinton's emails were hacked by foreign agents when she was the secretary of state? What if persons claiming to have done so are boasting about their alleged feats on Internet websites and in chat rooms traditionally associated with illegal or undercover activities? What if this is the sore underbelly of an arrogant and lawless secretary of state who used her power to exempt herself from laws that govern executive branch employees and didn't care about national security?

March 18, 2015

ANDREW NAPOLITANO: Do Hillary and Bill Clinton get special treatment from Obama?

Hillary Rodham Clinton, the former first lady, U.S. senator from New York and secretary of state, used a private email server for all of her emails when she was President Obama's secretary of state from 2009 to 2013.

March 11, 2015