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Administration Ordered To Divulge Legal Basis For Killing Americans With Drones

Posted by samzenpus on from the reason-time dept.

An anonymous reader writes "In a claim brought by The New York Times and the ACLU, the Second US Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that the administration must disclose the legal basis for targeting Americans with drones. From the article: 'Government officials from Obama on down have publicly commented on the program, but they claimed the Office of Legal Counsel's memo outlining the legal rationale about it was a national security secret. The appeals court, however, said on Monday that officials' comments about overseas drone attacks means the government has waived its secrecy argument. "After senior Government officials have assured the public that targeted killings are 'lawful' and that OLC advice 'establishes the legal boundaries within which we can operate,'" the appeals court said, "waiver of secrecy and privilege as to the legal analysis in the Memorandum has occurred" (PDF).'"

3 of 310 comments (clear)

  1. No answer will be given by operagost · · Score: 5, Informative

    History dictates that Obama will declare "executive privilege" or some other nonsense. He has already done this for himself and his AG; the latter currently in contempt of an ineffective Congress which is unlikely to do anything about it. With a Democratic Senate, there will be no impeachment.

    These are the facts, and I commend all of you who could read them before down-moderation.

    --

    Gamingmuseum.com: Give your 3D accelerator a rest.
    1. Re:No answer will be given by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      Sure, I'll pick one thing (how about what the /. post was about) The POTUS using drones to kill Americans. Obama is the only President I know of who has ordered the murder of US citizens. No pretense of a trial. Not even a criminal indictment. Nope, just drone them and claim as the President he has that right. For that he should be impeached... and then he should be tried for murder and executed.

  2. Re:Obligatory by l0ungeb0y · · Score: 4, Informative

    So let me get this straight, it's perfectly OK to kill people with drones as long as they're not American citizens?

    Yes

    And yes American citizens abroad as well.

    http://www.politifact.com/texas/statements/2014/mar/19/kesha-rogers/four-us-citizens-killed-obama-drone-strikes-3-were/
    http://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/constitution/item/18019-federal-court-drone-killing-of-u-s-citizens-is-constitutional

    ... well, as long as you are on a terror watch-list which automatically removes your rights or aren't the "intended" target.