Fox’s Andrew Napolitano: Charging Protesters with Sedition ‘a Bridge Too Far’

Fox News’ senior judicial analyst Judge Andrew Napolitano said on Thursday that charging protesters with sedition was not appropriate, despite the reported suggestion from Attorney General William Barr. Napolitano told Fox & Friends said there was no case for such charges.

“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,” Napolitano said.

“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.”

“That would be a bridge too far. You can charge these people — first of all, you have to exclude, before you charge them, you have to exclude their constitutional rights, meaning if they’re there expressing an opinion, they can’t be charged,” he said.

“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. 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.”

Watch the video above, via Fox News.