It Is Dangerous to Be Right When the Government Is Wrong

by Andrew P. Napolitano

  Acknowledgments

  I owe much gratitude and write to express my deep appreciation for those whose work, encouragement, and faith helped the concept of this book to become reality.

  My researchers are all, at this writing, bright, happy law students who attacked the assignments I gave them with great zeal and much patience. They are Timothy P. W. Sullivan, Sarah B. Vander Woude, Daniel Podvesker, and Erin Sullivan; they worked well and hard, and I thank them. My Fox colleagues and buddies Glenn Beck, Stuart Varney, and Charles Gasparino challenge and encourage my work every day. My ideological soul mates Lew Rockwell and Tom Woods have given me much intellectual sustenance. My friend James C. Sheil meticulously edited this book and challenged many of its premises. Having Jim edit your book is akin to running it through a grammar machine—if only such a device existed. And my boss at Fox, who gave me a platform and a megaphone with which to advance the ideas of freedom, has given me more than I can ever repay. Roger Ailes is not only a media giant and genius; he is patient, hilarious, and a hell of a nice guy.

  Whatever merits, if any, this book has are the result of all those whose intellects I consulted. Whatever faults it has are mine and mine alone.

  Notes

  Introduction

  1. On Free Choice of the Will, book one, section 5.

  2. Andrew P. Napolitano, Dred Scott’s Revenge: A Legal History of Race and Freedom in America (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2009), 252.

  3. Randy E. Barnett, “The Imperative of Natural Rights in Today’s World,” The Good Society 12, no. 3 (2003).

  4. Murray N. Rothbard, The Ethics of Liberty (Atlantic Highlands, NJ: Humanities Press, 1982).

  5. Supra note 2.

  6. Summa Theologica: “Of Human Law,” trans. 1947 by Fathers of the English Dominican Province.

  7. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., “I Have a Dream” speech, 1963, http://www.usconstitution.net/dream.html, emphasis added.

  8. DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE, para. 1, 1776.

  9. V for Vendetta (Warner Bros., 2006).

  Chapter 1

  1. Ayn Rand, The Fountainhead (New York: Bobbs-Merrill, 1943).

  2. Law Notes, vol. 5 (1902), http://google.co.uk/books?id=wxwqA.

  3. “When Pure Democracy Fails,” The Green Libertarian, August 7, 2010, http://greenlibertarian.net/index.php/news/301-when-pure-democracy-fails.

  4. James Madison, Federalist No. 10, 1787.

  5. This full interview is available at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-5_pv8csMY.

  6. DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE, para. 2, 1776.

  Chapter 2

  1. David King, “Eminent Domain Changes Seek to Limit State’s Power to Seize Property,” Gotham Gazette, February 4, 2010.

  2. Ibid.

  3. Karen Freifeld, “Columbia University’s Harlem Expansion Is Upheld by New York’s Top Court,” Bloomberg, June 25, 2010.

  4. James V. DeLong, Property Matters: How Property Rights Are Under Assault—and Why You Should Care (New York: Freedom Press, 1997).

  5. Roger Pilon, Cato Handbook for Congress: Policy Recommendations for the 108th Congress (Washington, DC: Cato Institute, 2003).

  6. Tarso Ramos, “Regulatory Takings and Private Property Rights,” Political Research Associates, 1995, www.publiceye.org/eyes/privprop.html.

  7. Walter Block, “Rent Control,” Library of Economics and Liberty, http://www.econlib.org/library/Enc/RentControl.html.

  8. Ibid.

  Chapter 3

  1. Beauharnais v. Illinois, 343 U.S. 250, 287 (1952).

  2. James Madison, “The Question of a Bill of Rights,” 1788, http://www.constitution.org/jm/17881017_bor.htm.

  3. Geoffrey R. Stone et al., The First Amendment (New York: Aspen Publishers, 2008), 20.

  4. Schenck v. United States, 249 U.S. 47 (1919).

  5. Frohwerk v. United States, 249 U.S. 204 (1919); Debs v. United States, 249 U.S. 211 (1919).

  6. Frohwerk v. United States, 249 U.S. 204 (1919).

  7. Supra note 3 at 30.

  8. Brandenburg v. Ohio, 395 U.S. 444, 446 (1969).

  9. Ibid., emphasis added.

  10. Citizens United v. Federal Election Committee, 130 S. Ct. 876 (2010).

  11. Holder v. Humanitarian Law Project, 130 S. Ct. 2705 (2010).

  Chapter 4

  1. Dan Ackman, “The Case of the Fat Aerobics Instructor,” Forbes, May 9, 2002, http://www.forbes.com/2002/05/09/0509portnick.html.

  2. Ibid.

  3. Ibid.

  4. George Getz, “Fat Law Should Be Repealed,” Ifeminists.com, May 14, 2002, http://www.ifeminists.com/introduction/editorials/2002/0514b.html.

  5. U.S. CONST., AMEND. I.

  6. John Rawls, Political Liberalism (New York: Columbia University Press, 1993).

  7. Thomas Paine, Rights of Man, 1791.

  8. Walter E. Williams, “The Right to Discriminate,” Townhall.com, June 2, 2010, http://townhall.com/columnists/WalterEWilliams/2010/06/02/the_right_to_discriminate.

  9. Laurence M. Vance, “Discrimination and a Free Society,” Lewrockwell.com, June 5, 2010, http://www.lewrockwell.com/vance/vance205.html.

  10. Roger Pilon, “Crucial Line Between Public, Private Discrimination Missing from Law,” Cato Institute, May 30, 2003, www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=3129.

  11. Plessy v. Ferguson, 163 U.S. 537 (1896). It held that “separate, but equal” train cars for blacks and whites are constitutional. It has since been overturned by Brown v. Board of Education, 347 U.S. 483 (1954).

  12. John Stossel, “Fight Bigotry without Government,” Reason, June 3, 2010, http://reason.com/archives/2010/06/03/fight-bigotry-without-government.

  13. Ibid.

  14. Jacob Hornberger, “Rand Paul, Civil Rights, and More Liberal Hypocrisy on Race,” Campaign for Liberty, May 22, 2010, http://www.campaignforliberty.com/article.php?view=875.

  15. John Stossel, “O’Reilly Tonight: Freedom of Association,” Foxbusiness.com, May 25, 2010, http://stossel.blogs.foxbusiness.com/2010/05/25/oreilly-tonight-freedom-of-association/.

  16. Krissah Thompson and Dan Balz, “Rand Paul Comments About Civil Rights Stir Controversy,” Washington Post, May 21, 2010.

  17. Charles W. Baird, “On Freedom of Association: Why Doesn’t Freedom of Association Apply in Labor Markets?” The Freeman: Ideas on Liberty 52, no. 7 (July 7, 2002).

  18. Ibid.

  19. Ibid.

  20. Ibid.

  21. Ibid.

  22. Ibid.

  23. Ibid.

  24. Walter E. Williams, “The Right to Deal,” George Mason University, September 22, 2003, http://econfaculty.gmu.eu/wew/articles/03/deal.html.

  Chapter 5

  1. “TSA Detains Official from Ron Paul Group,” Washington Times, April 6, 2009.

  2. Saenz v. Roe, 526 U.S. 489 (1999).

  3. Shapiro v. Thompson, 394 U.S. 618 (1969).

  4. Ibid.

  5. Robert Higgs, Resurgence of the Warfare State: The Crisis Since 9/11 (Oakland, CA: Independent Institute, 2005), 36.

  6. Ibid., 38.

  7. “Bomb Parts Pass Checkpoints at 21 U.S. Airports,” ABCnews.com, March 17, 2006, http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=1735898.

  8. Ibid..

  9. Becky Akers, “Unshakable Faith,” Lewrockwell.com, January 11, 2010, http://www.lewrockwell.com/akers/akers118.html.

  10. New York City Transit—History and Chronology, Metropolitan Transportation Authority, http://www.mta.info/nyct/facts/ffhist.htm.

  11. Joan Gralla, “NY Subway Fares to Rise; Most Service Cuts Spared,” Reuters, May 11, 2009, http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKTRE54A5QF20090511.

  12. Albor Ruiz, “Immigration Laws Are Breaking Families Apart, Deporting Too Many Parents with US-born Children,” New York Daily News, July 9, 2009, http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/brooklyn/2009/07/09/2009-07-09_immigration_laws_are_breaking_families_apart_deporting_too_many_parents_with_usb.html.

  13. David R. Henderson, “Raising the Minimum Wage Will Discourage Migration? It Just Ain�
�t So!” The Freeman: Ideas on Liberty 56, no. 9 (November 2006).

  14. Dr. Ron Paul, “Immigration and the Welfare State,” Lewrockwell.com, August 9, 2005, http://www.lewrockwell.com/paul/paul269.html.

  15. Steve Chapman, “Immigration and Crime: There’s Nothing to Fear from Illegal Immigrants,” Reason, February 22, 2010, http://reason.com/archives/2010/02/22/immigration-and-crime.

  16. Ibid.

  17. Steve Chapman, “Legalize Immigration: It’s Time to Focus on Letting Illegal Immigrants In,” Reason, May 31, 2010, http://reason.com/archives/2010/05/31/legalize-immigration.

  18. Ibid.

  19. Thomas Kaplan, “Bid for Trophy Becomes a Test of Iroquois Identity,” NewYork Times, July 12, 2010, A16.

  Chapter 6

  1. Charlie D’Agata, “Bloomberg Wants ‘Big Brother Britain’ for NYC,” LA Overview, May 12, 2010, http://www.laoverview.com/a7827-mayor-bloomberg-wants-big-brother-britain-for-nyc.

  2. “Arizona Governor Proposes Ballot Measure to Save Speed Cameras,” The truthaboutcars.com, January 18, 2010, http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/arizona-governor-proposes-ballot-measure-to-save-speed-cameras/.

  3. Ibid.

  4. Thom Hartmann, “Dear Clarence Thomas: It Happened on July 4, 1776,” Liberty Mulch, July 4, 2003, http://www.libertymulch.org/articles/030703_hartman_thom.html.

  5. U.S. CONST. AMEND. IV, emphasis added.

  6. U.S. CONST. AMEND. IX.

  7. See Randy Barnett, “A Law Professor’s Guide to Natural Law and Natural Rights,” 20 Harv. J.L. & Pub. Pol’y 655 (1997).

  8. Whalen v. Roe, 429 U.S. 589, 598–600 (1977).

  9. Despite Justice Brandeis’s progressive thinking on many issues, and whose views I rarely agree with, he was dead-on in his views of privacy.

  10. Samuel D. Warren and Louis D. Brandeis, “The Right to Privacy,” 4 Harv. L. Rev. 1931890.

  11. Ibid., 195.

  12. Olmstead v. United States, 277 U.S. 438, 478 (1928) (emphasis added).

  13. Loving v. Virginia, 388 U.S. 1 (1967).

  14. Stephanie Coontz, “Taking Marriage Private,” New York Times, November 26, 2007, www.nytimes.com/2007/11/26/opinion/26coontz.html.

  15. Ibid.

  16. Ellis Cose, “One Drop of Bloody History,” Newsweek, February 13, 1995, 70.

  17. See supra note 13.

  18. Ibid., 12.

  19. DOMA Watch, http://www.domawatch.org/index.php.

  20. Ibid.

  21. Gill v. Office of Pers. Mgmt., 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 67874 at *11 (D. Mass. July 8, 2010).

  22. Ibid.

  23. Igor Volsky, “Court Finds DOMA Unconstitutional, Say It Forces MA to ‘Violate the Equal Protection Rights of Its Citizens,’” ThinkProgress.org, July 8, 2010, http://thinkprogress.org/2010/07/08/mass-doma-case/; see also Massachusetts v. United States HHS, 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 67927 (D. Mass. July 8, 2010) and Gill v. Office of Pers. Mgmt., 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 67874 (D. Mass. July 8, 2010).

  24. U.S. CONST. AMEND. X.

  25. Massachusetts v. United States HHS, at 11.

  26. Ibid. 39.

  27. Ibid., 50.

  28. Griswold v. Connecticut 381 U.S. 479, 500 (1965).

  29. Ibid., 485.

  30. See Senator Feingold’s Web site, http://feingold.senate.gov/issues_patriot.html.

  31. Final Vote Results for Roll Call 398, http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2001/roll398.xml.

  32. U.S. CONST. AMEND. IV.

  33. Federal Bureau of Investigation, press release, http://www.fbi.gov/pressrel/pressrel07/nsl_faqs030907.htm.

  34. Ibid.

  35. Ibid.

  36. Andrew P. Napolitano, “How Congress Has Assaulted Our Freedoms in the Patriot Act,” Lewrockwell.com, December 15, 2006, www.lewrockwell.com/orig6/napolitano2.html.

  37. Supra note 33.

  38. Kim Zetter, “FBI Use of Patriot Act Authority Increased Dramatically in 2008,” Wired, May 19, 2009, http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2009/05/fbi-use-of-patriot-act-authority-increased-dramatically-in-2008/.

  39. H.R. 3162, 107th Cong. (2001).

  40. Douglas MacMillan, “Google Details Governments’ Data Demands,” Bloomberg BusinessWeek, April 21, 2010.

  41. Ibid.

  Chapter 7

  1. Tom Knighton, “Prostitution: The Other Prohibition,” United Liberty, June 24, 2010, http://www.unitedliberty.org/articles/6176-prostitution-the-other-prohibition.

  2. Paul Armentano, “The Case for Legalized Prostitution,” The Future of Freedom Foundation, December 1993, http://www.fff.org/freedom/1293e.asp.

  3. “New York City Passes Trans Fat Ban,” MSNBC, December 5, 2006, http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16051436/.

  4. John Coté, “Sugary-drink Ban Starts to Affect S.F. Sites,” Sfgate.com, July 6, 2010, http://articles.sfgate.com/2010-07-06/bay-area/21939137_1_vending-machines-soda-obesity.

  5. Mary Katherine Ham, “Nanny State Looks to Ban Salt in NY,” The Weekly Standard, March 11, 2010.

  6. Ibid.

  7. Eric Felten, “Thin Edge of the Wedge: A Fat Kid,” Wall Street Journal, April 30, 2010.

  8. Ibid.

  9. Dr. Sally Satel, “The Waiting Game,” American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, June 26, 2006, www.aei.org/docLib/20060607_SatelQF.pdf.

  10. The Organ Procurement and Transportation Network provides further information: http://optn.transplant.hrsa.gov/data/.

  11. Ibid. You can watch the ups and downs of the organ list.

  12. Ibid.

  13. Dr. Sally Satel, “About That New Jersey Organ Scandal,” American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, July 26, 2009, www.aei.org/article/100806.

  14. Benjamin E. Hippen, “Organ Sales and Moral Travails: Lessons from the Living Kidney Vendor Program in Iran,” Cato Institute, Policy Analysis no. 614, March 20, 2008.

  15. Supra note 13.

  16. David E. Harrington and Edward A. Sayre, “Paying for Bodies, But Not for Organs,” Cato Institute, 2006, http://www.cato.org/pubs/regulation/regv29n4/v29n4-1.pdf.

  17. Supra note 9.

  18. Ibid.

  19. Alex Tabarrok, “The Meat Market,” Wall Street Journal, January 8, 2010.

  20. Supra note 13.

  21. Ibid.

  22. Supra note 19.

  23. Ibid.

  24. Ibid.

  25. “Number of U.S. ESRD Patients Exceeds 500,000,” Renal Business Today, September 19, 2008, http://www.renalbusiness.com/hotnews/half-million-esrd-patients.html.

  26. Dr. Sally Satel, “Organs for Sale,” November 2006, http://www.sallysatelmd.com/html/a-amer01.html.

  27. Virginia Postrel, “. . . With Functioning Kidneys for All,” The Atlantic, http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2009/07/with-functioning-kidneys-for-all/7587/.

  28. Ibid.

  29. Gary S. Becker and Julio Jorge Elías, “Introducing Incentives in the Market for Live and Cadaveric Organ Donations,” University of Chicago, 2002, http://home.uchicago.edu/~gbecker/MarketforLiveandCadavericOrganDonations_Becker_Elias.pdf.

  30. Supra note 19.

  31. Ibid.

  32. Ibid.

  33. Ibid.

  34. Supra note 9.

  35. Ibid.

  36. Jon Gettman, “Lost Taxes and Other Costs of Marijuana Laws,” Drugscience.org, http://www.drugscience.org/Archive/bcr4/3Availability.html.

  37. “The Alcohol Link,” Uncle Mike’s Library, April 13, 2009, http://www.unclemikesresearch.com/the-alcohol-link/.

  38. Ibid.

  39. John Stossel, “End the Drug War,” Creators.com, http://www.creators.com/opinion/john-stossel/end-the-drug-war.html.

  40. Ibid.

  41. Ibid.

  42. Dr. Jeffrey A. Miron, “The Budgetary Implications of Marijuana Prohibition,” Marijuana Policy Project, June 2005, http://www.prohibitioncosts.org/mironreport.html.

  43. Ibid.

  44. http://www.prohibitioncosts.org/.

  45. Randy Balko, “A Drug Raid Goes Viral,” Reason August 2010, h
ttp://reason.com/archives/2010/07/16/a-drug-raid-goes-viral.

  46. Ibid.

  Chapter 8

  1. James A. Donald, “Natural Law and Natural Rights,” Jim.com, http://jim.com/rights.html.

  2. McDonald v. City of Chicago, 2010 U.S. LEXIS 5523, at *47 (2010).

  3. For a historical overview of Kristallnacht and the 1938 pogroms please see the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum’s exhibition, http://www.ushmm.org/museum/exhibit/online/kristallnacht/frame.htm.

  4. Michael Berenbaum, “Kristallnacht,” Encyclopaedia Britannica Online, http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/323626/Kristallnacht.

  5. Kathy Chang, “Those Who Were There Remember Kristallnacht, Holocaust,” Greater Media Newspapers, http://ws.gmnews.com/news/2009-12-16/front_page/006.html.

  6. Supra note 3.

  7. Robert Faurisson, “The Warsaw Ghetto ‘Uprising’: Jewish Insurrection or German Police Operation?” Journal of Historical Review 14, no. 2 (March 1994): 2–5.

  8. James T. Areddy, “Staring Down the Barrel: The Rise of Guns in China,” Wall Street Journal, October 14, 2008.

  9. Information from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), http://www.sipri.org/. Please see the databases for yearly data.

  10. Ibid.

  11. Report of the Subcommittee on the Constitution of the Committee on the Judiciary, United States Senate, 97th Cong., 2d Sess. (1982), SuDoc# Y4.J 89/2: Ar 5/5, emphasis added.

  12. Brady Handgun Control Act, 103rd Cong. (Pub.L. 103-159, 107 Stat. 1536), (1993).

  13. John R. Lott Jr., More Guns, Less Crime: Understanding Crime and Gun Control Laws (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2010), 237 (for a complete statistical analysis of gun control laws and the negative impact they have on the country and local communities).

  14. Gary Kleck, Point Blank: Guns and Violence in America (Piscataway, NJ: Aldine Transaction, 1991), 47–48.

  15. Dr. Paul H. Blackman, “The Armed Criminal in America,” National Rifle Association Institute for Legislative Action, September 9, 2003, http://www.nraila.org/issues/articles/read.aspx?id=117.

  16. Supra note 1.

  17. Nicole Marshall and Matt Barnard, “Intruder Who Was Shot, Killed by Tulsa County Homeowner Identified,” Tulsa World, April 2, 2010, http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=11&articleid=20100402_11_0_TURLEY322310.