Was Emperor Palpatine right that being a Sith Lord isn’t a crime?

Emperor Palpatine masterminded the slaughter of the Jedi, presided over a galactic fascist state that (among many other crimes) blew up a planet, groomed Anakin Skywalker, and attempted to turn Luke Skywalker to the Dark Side. Even after his apparent death he didn’t quit, “somehow” returning to try to take over the galaxy once again many years later.

But, maybe Palpatine was just misunderstood. Did the authoritarian religious cult of the Jedi force his hand? Star Wars fans are arguing his case on Reddit, as it seems that Palpatine’s argument that the Jedi who come to arrest him in Revenge of the Sith are acting unlawfully may have merit:

Palpatine’s precise argument is that “his philosophical outlook is a personal matter” and that the Senate Constitution has “very strict laws against this type of persecution”.

The counterpoint to that is that while religious freedom is a good thing, maybe there should be limits when the core belief is that you should be ruling the galaxy with an iron fist?

Another point against Palpatine is that his immediate reaction was to brutally murder the Jedi that came to arrest him, rather than trying to plead his case in court. Can we really chalk this up to self-defense?

It’s worth remembering that as Palpatine succeeded in murdering the Jedi who tried to arrest him there were no witnesses, allowing him to use the moment for propaganda purposes. As far as the Empire is concerned, Palpatine was the victim of an unprovoked attack and he said in his victory speech that “the attempt on my life has left me scarred and deformed, but I assure you my resolve has never been stronger.”

Legal and philosophical quibbling aside, we’re comfortable putting the cackling genocidal space tyrant in the “bad guys” category, even if we have to grudgingly admit he may be technically correct that it’s not actually against the law to be a Sith Lord.