Judging Freedom - New Jersey Governor attempts another power grab

Episode Date: January 11, 2022

Gov. Phil Murphy asserted that he must extend his emergency Covid powers, but New Jersey's senate said otherwise. Judge Napolitano breaks it all down.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Resolve to earn your degree in the new year in the Bay with WGU. With courses available online 24-7 and monthly start dates, WGU offers maximum flexibility so you can focus on your future. Learn more at wgu.edu. Good afternoon, my friends. Judge Napolitano here on Judging Freedom with another pop-up. Some awful events and threats in New Jersey that I think you should know about that involve the legal system, the right to live, and politics in the Garden State. Today is January 11th. It's the afternoon. It's snowy. It's bitter cold out.

It's about 10 degrees here at the top of the Delaware River. Let me thank those of you who have subscribed to this product. My team and I love producing it. We love knowing you're out there. And those of you who haven't, we hope you like it enough that you will do so. It costs you nothing. You know how to do it. Yesterday, Monday, January 10, was the last day of the legislature in the state of New Jersey, which was the last day

forever, but it's not. It's the last day for the legislature that existed in the two previous years. Next week, the new legislature that was just elected voted into office in November, comes in. But yesterday, Governor Murphy made two demands of the legislature. One is that it extend his powers to control the lives of individuals in ways that no legislature or executive branch member could. And the other is that it write into law the status of abortion in New Jersey. We'll start with the emergency powers. During the pandemic, the legislature purported to give Governor Murphy the power to regulate individual lives, to shut down businesses, to close down schools, to force you to wear a mask in public,

to prevent the gatherings of more than 10 or 15 people. Of course, he himself was at a gathering of 1,500 people, but it was a political cause that he supported. To allow the police to come into churches, to make sure no one was there, to allow the police to go into businesses, to make sure that everyone had a mask on. And lately, it's been to make sure that people are vaccinated. The legislature doesn't have that authority, but it thought it did, and it gave it to the governor. Well, yesterday, that authority expired. And the governor said to the legislature, I want it back. And the legislature, which is heavily controlled by Democrats in both parties, said, forget about it. The public is fed up with

it. We don't need it anymore. And then the governor of New Jersey threatened the legislature and said, I'll overrule you and just declare an emergency and there's nothing you can do about it. Governor Murphy, read the Constitution. The legislature will take away your emergency powers in a heartbeat when it decides that you have defied the will of the people. I've never seen this before in my 45 years as a lawyer, judge, legal analyst, commentator on public affairs, that the governor of a state would threaten the legislature, particularly when the legislature has the ultimate say-so. It can impeach the governor if it wants to. Not to be outdone with this, he also demanded that the legislature enact the right to abortion as part of the laws of the state. Now, the Supreme Court of New Jersey has ruled since 1986 that the right to an abortion

in New Jersey is a fundamental right, and it's lawful up to the moment before birth. It's tough for me even to say that. When I tell people, even people that live in New Jersey, even lawyers and judges, friends of mine in New Jersey, that we live and work in a state that permits the slaughter of babies up to the moment before birth. They can't believe it, but New Jersey does and has on the basis of a New Jersey Supreme Court opinion. None of the members of that court are still on the court. In fact, none of them is still alive. Yesterday, the legislature wrote into the law of the land that abortions are lawful up to the moment before birth and that the state of New Jersey will pay for it. This is one of the more repellent things that any governor, than any legislature, than any government can do. The Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution says that no government shall take life, liberty, or property from any person without due process of law. And the 14th Amendment says

that the states shall engage in equal protection. So if the state is going to protect my life by making murder of me a criminal offense. It needs to extend that same protection to babies in the womb who are persons. Is the baby in the womb a person? Of course the baby in the womb is a person. The baby has human parents, and the baby has all the genomic material, all that is needed within its tiny body to develop into a full postnatal being but the government doesn't see it that way the government is willing to pander to certain

political groups by allowing them to kill babies what a reprehensible state of affairs this is in the garden state and what a terrible way for you to begin, Governor Murphy, your next four years as governor. I have a feeling you might not complete the term. Seems to me that so many of the people that voted for you already are simply disgusted with you. Judge Napolitano, judging freedom.