Andrew P. Napolitano
Articles by Andrew P. Napolitano
The dangers of a Trump imperial presidency
President Trump has imposed a sales tax that he calls a tariff, bombed Syria without congressional consent, defied federal court orders at the border and spent money from the federal Treasury not appropriated by Congress. Published November 20, 2019
Is ignorance of the Constitution Trump’s defense?
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. Published November 13, 2019
Would Roosevelt have made a Trumpian demand with a world leader?
Late last week, the House of Representatives adopted a resolution authorizing formal investigations into whether President Donald Trump has committed impeachable offenses while in office. Published November 6, 2019
Republicans should be careful what they ask for during impeachment process
Early this week, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, giving Republicans what they asked for, announced that the full House will vote on initiating an impeachment investigation of the president. Published October 30, 2019
How Trump disparages the Constitution
Mr. Trump referred to a clause in the Constitution as "phony," and he thereby implied that he need not abide it nor enforce it, notwithstanding his oath. Published October 23, 2019
Is the impeachment process fair?
Impeachment is always constitutional if it originates in the House and if its basis is arguably for treason, bribery or other high crimes and misdemeanors. Published October 16, 2019
The presidency, war powers and the Constitution
President Trump's decision to withdraw the troops caused a firestorm among those in Congress who like war and those who believe that the United States should be using our military amply in the Middle East to help our friends and oppose our foes. Published October 9, 2019
President Trump attacks his own presidency
The House of Representatives has begun to gather evidence in an effort to determine if President Donald Trump has committed impeachable offenses. The U.S. Constitution defines an impeachable offense as "treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors." Published October 2, 2019
President 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. Published September 25, 2019
How the government infringes on the right to be left alone
Great Britain is currently the most watched country in the Western world -- watched, that is, by its own police forces. In London alone, the police have erected more than 420,000 surveillance cameras in public places. Published September 18, 2019
Who cares what the government thinks?
In 1791, when Congressman James Madison was drafting the first 10 amendments to the U.S. Constitution, which would become known as Bill of Rights, he insisted that the most prominent amendment among them restrain the government from interfering with the freedom of speech. Published September 11, 2019
The temptation of tyranny
Does the president of the United States have too much power? That question has been asked lately with respect to President Donald Trump's use of federal funds to construct 175 miles of sporadic walls along portions of the 2,000-mile common border between Texas and Mexico. Published September 4, 2019
President Trump’s nonemergency of his own making
Late last week, President Donald Trump issued a tweet in which he purported to order American businesses to cease doing work with their employees and contract partners in China. Published August 28, 2019
More spying and lying from the Trump administration
The Trump administration has quietly moved to extend and make permanent the government's authority to spy on all persons in America. Published August 21, 2019
Second Amendment liberties: The dangerous urge to do something
When tragedy strikes, as it did in two mass killings earlier this month, there is always the urge to pressure the government to do something. Published August 14, 2019
Supreme Court: Right to bear arms protected by highest category of liberty recognized by law
Last weekend's mass murders in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, have produced a flood of words about everything from gun control to mental illness to white nationalism. Most of those words have addressed the right to keep and bear arms as if it were a gift from the government. It isn't. Published August 7, 2019
Why hatred must be rejected loudly in all its forms
The private Trump I have known is funny, charming and embracing. That is not the public Trump of today. Published July 24, 2019
The limits of free speech
During the past week, President Donald Trump excited two bitter public controversies by sending and publishing two highly inappropriate and offensively incendiary tweets. Published July 17, 2019
The Constitution, the census and citizenship
Late last month, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on a challenge to a question that the Commerce Department announced it would add to the 2020 census. The census itself has been mandated by the U.S. Constitution to be taken every 10 years so that representation in the House of Representatives could be fairly apportioned to reflect population changes. Published July 10, 2019
Jeffersonian ideals of personal natural rights and governmental legitimacy have become myths
The Declaration of Independence — released on July 4, 1776 — was Thomas Jefferson's masterpiece. Jefferson himself wrote much about it in essays and letters during the 50 years that followed. Published July 3, 2019