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To: muawiyah

Here’s the entire 5th Amendment:

No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.[1]

There’s no exemption allowing the President to order the killing of an American citizen in there. Awlacki wasn’t a member of the US military so the “land and naval forces” clause doesn’t apply to him.

Nice try.


47 posted on 10/09/2011 11:18:16 AM PDT by Lurker (The avalanche has begun. The pebbles no longer have a vote.)
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To: Lurker
The exemption is right there in the text. Otherwise our military would be prohibited even in shooting back, as would your local police.

As CIC the President qualifies for the exemption.

Now #2, the guy wasn't a citizen. His parents made that choice for him. BTW, they added him to their FAMILY VISA as was required by law at the time.

You'll notice that American citizens don't need a visa. Not too far back in our history folks who needed visas to be here who had chilluns born here weren't really considered outside the jurisdiction of their own country on many elements of law. The business about giving illegal alien chilluns citizenship if born here is fairly recent and has more to do with the fact they don't have visas than anything else.

74 posted on 10/09/2011 2:02:24 PM PDT by muawiyah
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To: Lurker
if he was an American citizen he was a Constitutional member of the militia ~ so, yeah, the exemption is there. His case arose in the ranks of the militia.

You people can imagine this is something overlooked in the Constitution all you want ~ but how do you explain the Civil War?

78 posted on 10/09/2011 2:46:30 PM PDT by muawiyah
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To: Lurker

The protections of the fifth amendment are not limited to US citizens—there is nothing in the text of the amendment about “citizens” (it says “No person”). But I haven’t examined how the courts have interpreted it.


83 posted on 10/09/2011 3:17:18 PM PDT by Verginius Rufus
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