Tag: Judge Napolitano

Fox News Judge: Trump Is Destroying Freedom In Portland

Two weeks ago, this column offered a brief history of the freedom of speech in America. The essence of the column was that all public speech is lawful when there is time for more speech to challenge it and that the remedy for hate speech is not censorship, but more speech.

Last week, this column addressed the unconstitutional behavior of federal agents in Portland, Oregon, most of whom are out among peaceful demonstrators interfering with free speech, travel and assembly.

Also last week, a newspaper in New Jersey, the editors of which might have disagreed with the essence of this column — that the First Amendment requires the government to protect political dissent and prohibits interfering with it — published my column with the two and a half most important paragraphs removed. Continue reading.

Fox News judge comes out swinging against Senators who vote to block evidence in Trump’s trial

AlterNet logoJudge Andrew Napolitano, a Fox News contributor and frequent critic of President Donald Trump, wrote an editorial Thursday, which asked Republican senators who refuse to call witnesses for Trump’s impeachment trial the following: “How can the Senate be faithful to the Constitution if it suppresses the truth?”

After reviewing the history of the separation of powers established in the U.S. Constitution, Napolitano wrote that “in the case of impeachment of the president, the Constitution gives ‘sole power’ to the House of Representatives. In the case of an impeachment trial, the Constitution gives exclusivity to the Senate. There is no place for presidential resistance or judicial interference, so long as the House and Senate arguably follow the Constitution.”

The president was impeached by the House of Representatives for valid reasons, in the view of the Fox News judge. Continue reading.

Fox Judge Urges Reopening Of Impeachment Probe To Review New Evidence

The party line among many of President Donald Trump’s defenders at Fox News is that the recent impeachment inquiry by House Democrats was flawed from start to finish, but Judge Andrew Napolitano hasn’t been shy about offering critical analysis of Trump during the Ukraine scandal — and according to Napolitano, “newly acquired evidence” is reason enough for Democrats to “reopen the impeachment” inquiry.

Appearing on Fox News’ America’s Newsroom on Monday, Napolitano asserted, “If I were a Democrat in the House, I would be moving to reopen the impeachment on the basis of newly acquired evidence — which are these new e-mails of people getting instructions directly from the president to hold up on the sending of the (military) funds  (to Ukraine). That would justify holding on to the articles of impeachment, because there’s new evidence, perhaps new articles.”

Napolitano added, “If I were a Republican in the Senate, I would go about my business as if there had been no articles of impeachment — because until those articles of impeachment come over to the Senate, there is nothing for the Senate to do.” Continue reading.

Fox News Judge: Why Trump Must Be Impeached

The rule of law is a cornerstone of American democracy and is integral to the Constitution. It stands for the principles that no person is beneath the laws’ protections. No person is above the laws’ requirements. And the laws apply equally to all people. That is the theory of the rule of law.

In practice, as the power of the federal government has grown almost exponentially since 1789 and the power of the presidency has grown with it, presidents have claimed immunity from the need to comply with the law while in office. They have also claimed immunity from the consequences of the failure to comply with the law.

That immunity claim is predicated upon the belief that if the president committed a criminal offense and was charged and prosecuted while in office, the diversion of his energies to his defense would interfere substantially with his ability to do his job, which could jeopardize national security.

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Fox News judge explains why he would ‘certainly’ impeach Pres. Trump

AlterNet logoFox News Judge Andrew Napolitano declared Wednesday that he would “certainly” vote to impeach President Donald Trump if he was a member of Congress.

During an appearance on “America’s Newsroom,” Napolitano asserted his belief that “the Democrats have credibly argued that [Trump] committed impeachable offenses” in the Ukraine scandal.

“The easiest one — because this existed in Andrew Johnson, Richard Nixon and Bill Clinton — is obstruction of Congress,” he said. “So — by directing his subordinates to refuse to comply with lawfully issued subpoenas, whether it’s for testimony or for documents — that’s an impeachable offense.”

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Fox News legal analyst knocks down Fox & Friends’ anti-impeachment talking points one by one

AlterNet logoFox News legal analyst Andrew Napolitano disappointed the co-hosts of “Fox & Friends” on Thursday by informing them that House Democrats still have a very strong case for impeaching President Donald Trump.

Co-host Brian Kilmeade started off by claiming that the president was vindicated because he told European Union ambassador Gordon Sondland that he wasn’t seeking a quid pro quo from Ukraine.

However, Napolitano said that statement is utterly meaningless given that the president already knew he was being investigated when he made it.

View the complete November 21 article by Brad Reed from Raw Story on the AlterNet website here.

Fox Judge Shreds Trump Defenders’ Arguments

“Well, when the president does it, that means that it is not illegal.” — Richard M. Nixon (1913-1994)

As public hearings on impeachment begin this week, we will see the case for and the case against impeaching President Donald Trump. The facts are largely undisputed, but each side has its version of them.

The Democrats will argue that in his July 25, 2019 telephone call with his Ukrainian counterpart, seen in the context of months of negotiations between American and Ukrainian diplomats, Trump made it known that if the Ukrainian government wanted the $391 million in military and financial aid that Congress authorized and ordered, it first must offer, or announce that it was seeking, dirt on his likely 2020 political opponent, former Vice President Joe Biden or his son Hunter. That implicates a presidential violation of two federal statutes: One is the prohibition of solicitation of campaign help from a foreign government, and the other is the prohibition of bribery.

View the complete November 16 article by Andrew Napolitano on the National Memo website here.

Fox News Judge: Impeachment Is Lawful, Unlike Soliciting Foreign Election Help

Last week found Republicans in Congress complaining loud and long that the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, along with the House Oversight and Foreign Affairs committees, all bipartisan and under the leadership of Rep. Adam Schiff, were violating the rules of the House of Representatives by interviewing witnesses about impeachment behind closed doors. They derided Schiff’s hearings as a “secret impeachment.”

President Donald Trump called the hearings a hoax. When some pointed out that the initial round of government interviews of witnesses is always conducted behind closed doors to facilitate candor, Senate Republicans supported the president and condemned the House process. Nevertheless, the House rules, which were adopted in 2015, when Republicans had the majority, clearly authorize the process Schiff is utilizing.

Not to be overshadowed by their Senate counterparts in their anger over this process, about 30 House Republicans, not on the interviewing committees, physically stormed the Intelligence Committee hearing room last Wednesday morning and occupied it so as to bar the scheduled interviews. By midafternoon, they had tired of their stunt and peacefully departed.

View the complete October 30 article by Andrew Napolitano on the National Memo website here.

Fox Judge: Mocking Constitution Makes Trump Unfit For Office

In nearly three years in office, President Donald Trump has spent federal dollars not authorized by Congress, separated families and incarcerated children at the Texas/Mexico border in defiance of a federal court order, pulled 1,000 American troops out of Syria ignoring a commitment to allies and facilitating war against civilians, and sent 2,000 troops to Saudi Arabia without a congressional declaration of war.

He has also criminally obstructed a Department of Justice investigation of himself but escaped prosecution because of the intercession of an attorney general more loyal to him than to the Constitution.

At the outset of his presidency, Trump took the presidential oath of office promising that he would faithfully execute his obligation to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution. James Madison, the scrivener of the Constitution, insisted that the word “faithfully” be in the presidential oath and that the oath itself be in the Constitution to remind presidents to enforce laws and comply with constitutional provisions, whether or not they agree with them, and to immunize the oath from congressional alteration.

View the complete commentary by Judge Andrew Napolitano on the National Memo website here.

Fox News Judge Blasts Trump’s ‘Brazen Acts Of Corruption’

Last week, media outlets reported the existence of a whistleblower complaint filed with the inspector general of the intelligence community against President Donald Trump. The IC encompasses all civilian and military employees and contractors who work for the federal government gathering domestic and foreign intelligence.

The inspector general — a position appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate — exists in all parts of the executive branch of the government, except for the White House, to examine and determine if officials are following the law.

A whistleblower refers to a person who works for the government and who believes that her or his colleagues and bosses are engaged in unconstitutional or unlawful or dangerous behavior. A federal statute expressly provides procedures for federal employees to follow in order to make known to an inspector general the potentially unlawful or dangerous behavior.

View the complete September 29 article by Andrew Napolitano on the National Memo website here.