The United States has targeted a U.S. citizen, Anwar al-Awlaki, for assassination. Mr. al-Awlaki’s father sued to prevent the U.S. government from killing his son, but the suit was dismissed by U.S. District Court judge John Bates. Mr.al-Awlaki, who is hiding out ion Yemen, is fair game.
Justice Bates, while upholding the right of the U.S. government to do this, was troubled by the policy. According the the New York Times, Justice Bates asked, “Can the Executive order the assassination of a U.S. citizen without first affording him any form of judicial process whatsoever, based on the mere assertion that he is a dangerous member of a terrorist organization?”
We trust President Obama. We assume that Mr. al-Awlaki is deserving of execution. But wait. Suppose Sarah Palin is president. Suppose she targets the founder of WikiLeaks? We are dealing with a dangerous precedent here. We need some sort of review--something like the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, which has been set up to review wiretaps of foreign agents.
No president--even President Obama--should have absolute power to order the death of an American citizen without some kind of judicial oversight.
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