# Andrew Napolitano Fox News's longtime senior legal analyst, ousted in 2021 after sexual harassment allegations from male employees — extending the network's pattern of tolerating predatory behavior until external pressure made protection unviable. Napolitano had been a Fox fixture since 1998, providing libertarian-leaning legal commentary that occasionally put him at odds with the network's editorial direction, before his career ended in the same manner as [[Roger Ailes]]'s and [[Bill O'Reilly]]'s. ## Background Born June 6, 1950, in Newark, New Jersey. Princeton University (BA, 1972). University of Notre Dame Law School (JD, 1975). Served as a New Jersey Superior Court judge from 1987 to 1995 — the "Judge" title that became his on-air brand. ## Fox News Career (1998–2021) Napolitano joined Fox News in 1998 as a legal analyst and became one of the network's most recognizable on-air personalities. He hosted *Freedom Watch* on Fox Business (2009–2012) and served as senior judicial analyst across Fox programming. His commentary was more libertarian than the network's mainstream conservatism — he was critical of government surveillance, supportive of civil liberties, and occasionally skeptical of executive power in ways that put him at odds with both the Bush and Trump administrations. He was a reliable voice against government overreach from both parties. ### Trump-Era Tensions Napolitano's relationship with Trump was volatile. He initially had a friendly relationship with Trump (who reportedly considered him for a Supreme Court nomination), but the relationship deteriorated when Napolitano began making legal arguments unfavorable to Trump's positions. In 2019, Napolitano argued that the [[Mueller Report]] showed Trump had committed obstruction of justice — a position that put him directly at odds with Fox's editorial defense of the president. His defense of legal principles over partisan loyalty led [[Tucker Carlson]] to publicly mock him on air — the same incident that precipitated [[Shepard Smith]]'s departure from Fox. ## Sexual Harassment Allegations and Firing In September 2020, Napolitano was hit with two lawsuits alleging sexual assault. He was removed from Fox's airwaves at that point. In 2021, a 27-year-old Fox News employee, John Fawcett, filed a complaint alleging that Napolitano "has sexually harassed numerous young male employees during his tenure at Fox News," including inappropriate physical contact and sexually suggestive comments. Fawcett and others reported Napolitano's behavior to Fox's human resources department, but the network allegedly "took no action whatsoever" — until the lawsuits became public. Fox News said it "immediately investigated the claims and addressed the matter" and that the network and Napolitano had "parted ways" in August 2021. Napolitano later resurfaced as a contributor at [[Newsmax]]. ## Analytical Framework Napolitano's story extends the Fox sexual harassment pattern established by [[Roger Ailes]] and [[Bill O'Reilly]]: the network tolerated predatory behavior until legal exposure made continued employment untenable. The allegations against Napolitano involved male employees — a different dynamic than the Ailes and O'Reilly cases — but the institutional response was identical: no action until external pressure forced it. His career also illustrates the Fox system's intolerance of principled dissent. Napolitano's libertarian legal analysis occasionally produced conclusions the network's audience didn't want to hear — and when those conclusions conflicted with Trump-era orthodoxy, he was attacked by opinion hosts and marginalized before the harassment allegations ended his career entirely. ## See Also - [[Fox News]] — The network that fired him - [[Roger Ailes]] — The predator whose pattern Napolitano's case extended - [[Bill O'Reilly]] — The host whose sexual harassment pattern Napolitano's case echoed - [[Shepard Smith]] — The anchor whose departure was triggered by the same Tucker Carlson attack on Napolitano - [[Newsmax]] — Where he resurfaced after Fox