Judge Andrew Napolitano, a senior judicial analyst at Fox News, said suggestions to charge protesters with sedition are unfounded and "absurd" during a Fox and Friends appearance Thursday morning.
"That would be a bridge too far," Napolitano said of federal insurrection charges. "You can charge these people—first of all...before you charge them, you have to exclude their constitutional rights, meaning if they're there expressing an opinion, they can't be charged."
"If their expression of an opinion turns to violence, then they can be charged for the act of violence, for destruction of property, for inciting a riot, for harming individuals, for attacking government buildings," the judge continued. "But the idea that this is some kind of an organized plot to overthrow the government, there's no basis for that and it's absurd."
Napolitano's comments responded to U.S. Attorney General William Barr's reported advice to federal prosecutors last week. According to The New York Times, which cited sources privy to a recent phone conversation between Barr and other U.S. attorneys, he proposed using sedition charges to target individuals who committed acts of violence during rallies held over the past few months. Actions that provoke resistance or violent rebellion against authorities are considered sedition in the U.S. and charged as serious felonies. Sedition charges are rare and historically filed in relation to alleged coups or conspiracies.
Barr's rhetoric regarding protests against police abuse and racism often calls for prosecution. The attorney general also suggested the Department of Justice's civil rights division evaluate whether the establishment of Seattle's CHOP (an acronym for Capitol Hill Occupy Protest, or Capitol Hill Organized Protest) could warrant criminal charges against Mayor Jenny Durkan, the Times reported.
Demonstrations that began to surface after George Floyd's death in custody last May have persisted across the country into September, as police shootings continue to occur and clashes escalate between protesters and law enforcement.
During Thursday's Fox and Friends appearance, Napolitano said the government "should" pursue charges against protesters who have damaged property or injured others, but noted that sedition refers to a different crime entirely.
"There's nothing wrong with aggressive prosecution. In fact, in the face of violence in the street that is destroying government property, private property and injuring individuals, that's what the government should do," the judge concluded. "But this is not the case for sedition. Sedition was the sedition laws which, by the way, go back to 1798, sedition laws written for those who plan and plot to overthrow the government either by violence or some other means."
Newsweek reached out to the Department of Justice for comments, but did not receive a reply in time for publication.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
To read how Newsweek uses AI as a newsroom tool, Click here.
