Now Playing at Reason.tv: Judge Andrew Napolitano on Civil Liberties During Wartime

Fox News legal analyst Judge Andrew Napolitano is among the fiercest defenders of individual rights. Both in his daily appearances on the country's most-watched cable news network and in a series of books (most recently, A Nation of Sheep), Napolitano consistently and defiantly argues that the only legitimate government is that which respects its citizens rights in all cases.

In late October, Napolitano gave the keynote address at the conference Reason in DC, where he delivered a spellbinding speech that blended a masterful understanding of American history with a blazing outrage at the excesses of the new security state. "Who [is] the greatest violator of the Constitution?" asks Napolitano. "George W. Bush has shown less fidelity to the Constitution than any president since Abraham Lincoln."

Click on the image to watch the Judge defend your right to be left alone, "the greatest right of all the rights in civilized society" and much, much more (approximately 40 minutes).

Comments

[Jamie Kelly]

Now doesn't it feel better to have a class act like Napolitano on reason.tv, instead of that slobberingly drunk warmonger Hitchens?
Thanks, reason.

[Warty]

I really like the judge, and he's a hero for all that he does for liberty, but does anyone else besides me hate his writing style? His books read like a 300-page op-ed.

[NP]

Warty,

You're not alone. I do like the judge, but, yeah, his writing could use a few more snowflakes... uh... a little more decoration. (Sorry, too many damn holiday CDs recently.)

[Gilbert Martin]

"Who [is] the greatest violator of the Constitution?" asks Napolitano. "George W. Bush has shown less fidelity to the Constitution than any president since Abraham Lincoln."

Nope - Franklin Delano Roosevelt is the greatest violator of the Constitution in national history.

[john]

Hey Nick, I hear you're gonna be in charge of the TV Reason stuff. More like this ASAP.

[JW]

Gilbert--Let's call it a tie between the 2.

[Andy Pilny]

His "masterful understanding of American history" seems like a summary of Geoffrey Stone's Perilous Times.

[smartass sob]

seems like a summary of Geoffrey Stone's Perilous Times.

That would not make his points any less valid, however. So far the end-runs around the Constitution and the other abuses that he illuminates have not been put to use on any large scale or far-reaching basis, but they certainly could be. What happens, if the next administration comes up with another "emergency" of some sort? What is to stop the executive branch from using such past abuses as precedent to expand its powers even further, just as it has done in the past? It keeps building upon its own excesses.

As to the Judge himself, I've never heard him speak before nor read any of his stuff - but I have to say, I like this guy. Why don't we have more people like him in government? Thanks for the video, Reason, - it was excellent.

[ed]

Why don't we have more people like him in government?

Because being "in government" is more about wielding power than civic-mindedness?