Andrew P. Napolitano

"Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty." — Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826).
No one knows if Thomas Jefferson personally uttered those words. They have been widely attributed to him, but they don't appear in any of his writings. If he did not literally utter them, he uttered the sentiments they offer. They remind us not to take liberty for granted.
As America returns to pre-pandemic normalcy, we should think about the dangers of taking liberty for granted. This column has argued frequently that personal liberty is our birthright. It is a natural right. It doesn. . .

Edward and Kim Caniglia had an argument in their Cranston, Rhode Island, home, during which Edward retrieved a lawfully owned unloaded handgun and placed it on their dining room table in front of Kim and said to his wife, "Shoot me now, and get it over with." Kim did not touch the gun and left the house for the evening. The next day, after she could not reach Edward by phone, Kim returned to the house with four local police officers who met Edward outside on the back porch.
The police and Edward chatted, and he confirmed the. . .

"The Constitution of the United States is a law for rulers and people, equally in war and in peace, and covers with the shield of its protection all classes of men, at all times and under all circumstances. No doctrine involving more pernicious consequences was ever invented by the wit of man than that any of its provisions can be suspended during any of the great exigencies of government." — Ex Parte Milligan, Supreme Court of the United States, 1866.
Last week, the media in New Jersey began to ask Gov. Phil Murphy when he would surrender his. . .

"No person shall be... deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law." — Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution
Last year, a detainee at the U.S. Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, filed a writ of habeas corpus in a federal district court in Washington, D.C. — to which all cases from Guantanamo have been assigned — and it was denied because he was not in the United States.
A writ of habeas corpus is the ancient individual right of every person confined by the government to require the government to justify. . .

Twice last week, the federal government's unconstitutional spying on ordinary Americans was exposed. One of these revelations was made by a federal judge in Washington, D.C., who wrote that the FBI is still using warrantless spying in criminal cases, notwithstanding the Constitution and federal laws. The other revelation was a surprise even to those of us who monitor these things — the United States Postal Service acknowledged that it has been spying on Americans.
Here is the backstory.
The modern American security state — the parts of the federal government that spy on Americans and do not. . .

Earlier this week, President Joseph R. Biden Jr. asked Congress to raise taxes and increase borrowing so his administration can spend $2.3 trillion — on top of the $1.9 trillion Congress authorized two months ago for so-called COVID relief — for thousands of projects he calls "infrastructure." All this is in addition to the $2 trillion that the government borrows annually these days just to make ends meet.
These are serious numbers of dollars, the repayment of which will have seriously unpleasant consequences for future generations of Americans. Indeed, under Biden's administration, the. . .