Judge Andrew Napolitano called a statement about the Bill of Rights made last week by Democratic New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy “deplorable” during a Monday night appearance on Fox News’ “Tucker Carlson Tonight.”
During an appearance on the same program last week, Murphy told Fox News host Tucker Carlson that he “wasn’t thinking of the Bill of Rights” while imposing intrusive social distancing measures in his state that included banning religious gatherings.
Discussing near unanimous media condemnation of anti-social distancing measures protests going on around the country, Napolitano noted the irony of an institution that “could not exist in this country without the First Amendment” applauding it “being crushed because they disagree with the message of those who are being crushed.”
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“The Constitution applies in good times and in bad,” said Napolitano. “There is no pandemic exception to the Constitution. There is no emergency provision or trigger in the Constitution. The rights articulated in the Constitution are guaranteed, so the rights of everyone listening to us now to tell the government to go to hell is an absolute personal fundamental liberty that the government cannot punish you for exercising, and your right to peacefully gather with others to deliver the same type of message is similarly guaranteed.”
The Fox News contributor observed that every politician has to take “the same oath” he took when he became a judge before questioning Murphy’s dedication to that oath. (RELATED: ‘Insulated Hollywood Bubble-Dweller’: Patton Oswalt Dragged For Tone-Deaf Tweet Mocking Shutdown Protesters)
“Now he either thought that was funny or he was being serious,” said Napolitano. “It absolutely wasn’t funny. It was deplorable, and if he meant it he has no business being the governor of a state because it’s violating the oath he took when he became governor.”