Dear Friend,
Not even the Bush Administration had the audacity to publicly and explicitly assert the right to execute Americans citizens without judicial review. But in a speech at Northwestern University this week, Attorney General Eric Holder offered a detailed defense of the Obama Administration's unprecedented step of authorizing targeted executions of American citizens through a secretive CIA assassination program
It is unacceptable and unconstitutional for the executive branch of the U.S. government to secretly kill American citizens abroad without due process that includes impartial judicial review.
Holder asserts that Constitutional guarantees of due process aren't violated by a program that secretly targets American citizens for assassination without "even charging them with a crime, notifying them of the accusations, or affording them an opportunity to respond" through a judicial process.1 Holder made this point clear saying,
"Due process" and "judicial process" are not one and the same, particularly when it comes to national security. The Constitution guarantees due process, not judicial process.2
The ACLU has filed a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit seeking information about the assassination program, but Holder's Justice Department has responded to the request by saying they can neither confirm nor deny the existence of any records. We need to pressure the Department of Justice to release all legal documents related to the purported "justification" of the Obama Administration's extra-judicial killings.
The "process" Holder referred to in his chilling defense of the secret assassination program entails the President making the ultimate decision to kill an American suspected of terrorism. This decision, according to Reuters, would be based on information in a "kill or capture list" drawn up by "a secretive panel of senior government officials."3
There isn't any law that establishes the existence of this panel and provides rules for how it is supposed to operate. This sham "due process" described by Holder offers "no public record of the operations or decisions of the panel."4 Holder did not provide any "footnotes or specific legal citations" to offer credible justifications of the President's ability to order the killing of just about anyone without judicial review.5 We need to join the ACLU in its call to shine a light on this unconstitutional and un-American secret White House program.
As pointed out by Hina Shamsi, Director of the American Civil Liberties Union's National Security Project:
If the attorney general can discuss the targeted killing program at a law school, then the administration can surely release the legal memos it uses to justify its claimed killing authority, and also defend its legal justifications in court... The targeted killing program raises profound legal and moral questions that should be subjected to public debate, and constitutional questions that should be considered by the judiciary.6
Just four years ago Holder himself blasted the Bush Administration's justification to eavesdrop on accused terrorists by mocking its calls to "just trust us."7 His frightening advancement of unchecked executive power through justification of a sham due process runs directly counter to then Senator Obama's passionate defense of "the vital importance of due process even for accused terrorists" during the Bush administration.8 As a former professor of Constitutional Law,, President Obama should be especially sensitive to this issue, and should not oppose his Department of Justice allowing a vigorous and honest public debate (not to mention a credible judicial review) of the constitutionality of his assassination program.
Even if you trust President Obama not to use unconstitutional powers, imagine a President Romney or President Santorum with the authority to secretly order extra-judicial killings of American citizens without being accountable to judicial process. We must take action today.
Sign our petition today and tell Attorney General Holder that he must release all legal documents related to the Administration's unprecedented policy, giving the executive branch unchecked power to carry out extra-judicial executions. Click below to automatically sign the petition:
http://act.credoaction.com/r/?r=5539474&id=36333-3503426-gK%3Db3Gx&t=12
http://act.credoaction.com/r/?r=5539474&id=36333-3503426-gK%3Db3Gx&t=12
Thank you for speaking out in defense of our Constitution.
1. Glenn Greenwald, "Attorney General Holder defends execution without charges," Salon.com, March 6, 2011.
2. The United States Department of Justice, "Attorney General Eric Holder Speaks at Northwestern University School of Law," March 5, 2012.
3. Mark Hosenball, "Secret panel can put Americans on "kill list'," Reuters, October 5, 2011.
4. Id.
5. Charlie Savage, "U.S. Law May Allow Killings, Holder Says," The New York Times, March 5, 2012.
6. ACLU, "ACLU Comment on Eric Holder Speech on Targeted Killing Program," March 5, 2012.
7. Greenwald, "Attorney General Holder defends execution without charges."
8. Id.
2. The United States Department of Justice, "Attorney General Eric Holder Speaks at Northwestern University School of Law," March 5, 2012.
3. Mark Hosenball, "Secret panel can put Americans on "kill list'," Reuters, October 5, 2011.
4. Id.
5. Charlie Savage, "U.S. Law May Allow Killings, Holder Says," The New York Times, March 5, 2012.
6. ACLU, "ACLU Comment on Eric Holder Speech on Targeted Killing Program," March 5, 2012.
7. Greenwald, "Attorney General Holder defends execution without charges."
8. Id.
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