Fox News analyst destroys Barr’s ‘absurd’ desire to charge rioters with sedition: 'A bridge too far’

Fox News judicial analyst Andrew Napolitano, a former judge, on Thursday pushed back against Attorney General William Barr’s call to charge violent protesters with sedition.

According to The Wall Street Journal, Barr told federal prosecutors that they could use sedition laws in cases where protests turn violent.

Napolitano explained during an appearance on Fox & Friends that charging protesters with sedition would be a “bridge too far.”

“There’s nothing wrong with aggressive prosecution,” Napolitano said. “But this is not the case for sedition. I mean, the sedition laws — which by the way, go back to 1798 — the sedition laws were written for those who plan and plot to overthrow the government, either by violence or by some other means.”

“That would be a bridge too far,” he continued. “First of all, before you charge them, you have to exclude their constitutional rights. Meaning, if they are there expressing an opinion, they can’t be charged.”

According to Napolitano, if the protest “turns to violence then [protesters] can be charged for the act of violence.”

“But the idea that this is some kind of organized plot to overthrow the government, there’s no basis for that,” he added. “And it’s absurd.”

Watch the video below from Fox News.