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ACLU Lens: American Citizen Anwar Al-Aulaqi Killed Without Judicial Process
ACLU ^ | Sep 30, 2011 | Suzanne Ito, ACLU

Posted on 09/30/2011 4:58:50 PM PDT by americanophile

Today in Yemen, U.S. air strikes killed American citizen Anwar Al-Aulaqi. Al-Aulaqi has never been charged with a crime. Last year, the ACLU and Center for Constitutional Rights represented Al-Aulaqi's father in a lawsuit challenging the government's asserted authority to carry out "targeted killings" of U.S. citizens located far from any armed conflict zone. We argued that such killings violate the Constitution and international law, but the case was dismissed in federal court last December.

In response to today's killing of Al-Aulaqi, ACLU Deputy Legal Director Jameel Jaffer said:

The targeted killing program violates both U.S. and international law. As we've seen today, this is a program under which American citizens far from any battlefield can be executed by their own government without judicial process, and on the basis of standards and evidence that are kept secret not just from the public but from the courts. The government's authority to use lethal force against its own citizens should be limited to circumstances in which the threat to life is concrete, specific, and imminent. It is a mistake to invest the President — any President — with the unreviewable power to kill any American whom he deems to present a threat to the country. In a hearing before a federal court last November, government lawyers argued the president should have unreviewable authority to kill Americans he has unilaterally determined to pose a threat. As National Security Project Litigation Director Ben Wizner added today: "If the Constitution means anything, it surely means that the President does not have unreviewable authority to summarily execute any American whom he concludes is an enemy of the state."

(Excerpt) Read more at aclu.org ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Government
KEYWORDS: 5thamendment; alaulaqi; anwaralawlaki; assination; ronpaul
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To: americanophile

Anyone can press criminal charges


161 posted on 10/02/2011 1:51:35 PM PDT by Figment ("A communist is someone who reads Marx.An anti-communist is someone who understands Marx" R Reagan)
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To: americanophile

The ACLU is upset that there was no transfer of wealth to criminal lawyers.


162 posted on 10/02/2011 2:53:02 PM PDT by Paleo Conservative
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To: americanophile

District attorneys and the Justice Department bring charges in criminal actions;

DA’s and the DOJ bring cases for the state. Private citizens are free to do the same


163 posted on 10/02/2011 6:43:07 PM PDT by Figment ("A communist is someone who reads Marx.An anti-communist is someone who understands Marx" R Reagan)
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To: pointsal

Only if they are from Orange County. SFran’ers and Los Angelites get a free pass from this administration.


164 posted on 10/03/2011 5:07:10 AM PDT by Pecos (O.K., joke's over. Time to bring back the Constitution.)
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