The key facts
- Lawyer Andrew Napolitano doubts the New Jersey governor can prevent Russian tankers from entering the Port of Newark
- Sherrill earlier called on port operators not to accept tankers with Russian diesel and threatened fines
- Napolitano also criticized the transfer of intelligence to Kyiv and the performance of CIA Director John Ratcliffe
Doubts about the governor's powers
American lawyer and conservative commentator Andrew Napolitano has expressed doubt that New Jersey Governor Mikie Sherrill will be able to prevent Russian tankers from delivering diesel fuel to the state's ports. According to him, she may merely be making a political statement. The expert's remarks are reported by TASS.
Powers and a likely court battle
Napolitano acknowledged that Sherrill does indeed have certain powers over port terminals, since the federal government does not own the berths. However, in his view, the governor will not be able to single-handedly resolve the issue of a Russian vessel's arrival. «I have no idea what she could do if a Russian tanker were to dock at the Port of Newark with 500 million gallons of diesel fuel on board. This would probably be decided by a federal judge located a couple of miles away,» — Life.ru quotes him as saying. An attempt to block the supplies, therefore, could lead to litigation.
Criticism of intelligence and the background of the conflict
In the same commentary, Napolitano criticized the transfer of intelligence data to Kyiv, which Ukraine uses, among other things, to strike Russian fuel and energy facilities. In his opinion, this looks as if US President Donald Trump «does not control the CIA or does not want to control it.» The lawyer called the agency's director, John Ratcliffe, a frivolous and inexperienced intelligence official who, in his view, acts in the interests of advocates of a hard-line anti-Russian policy within the American intelligence community.
What Sherrill demanded
Earlier, as Life.ru reported, Mikie Sherrill called on New Jersey port operators not to accept tankers carrying Russian diesel fuel. According to The New York Times, which the outlet cites, the governor threatened terminals with fines and «severe sanctions» if the demand was not met. Napolitano's statement shows that even hard-liners in the US doubt the legal feasibility of such measures: the question of ships' entry, in his assessment, falls within federal jurisdiction, not the authority of a single state.
