Secret U.S. Memo Made Legal Case to Kill a Citizen
By CHARLIE SAVAGE
Published: October 8, 2011
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Then there was the Bill of Rights: the Fourth Amendment’s guarantee that a “person” cannot be seized by the government unreasonably, and the Fifth Amendment’s guarantee that the government may not deprive a person of life “without due process of law.”
The memo concluded that what was reasonable, and the process that was due, was different for Mr. Awlaki than for an ordinary criminal. It cited court cases allowing American citizens who had joined an enemy’s forces to be detained or prosecuted in a military court just like noncitizen enemies.
It also cited several other Supreme Court precedents, like a 2007 case involving a high-speed chase and a 1985 case involving the shooting of a fleeing suspect, finding that it was constitutional for the police to take actions that put a suspect in serious risk of death in order to curtail an imminent risk to innocent people.
The document’s authors argued that “imminent” risks could include those by an enemy leader who is in the business of attacking the United States whenever possible, even if he is not in the midst of launching an attack at the precise moment he is located.
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(1) “Secret”? Argh! What kind of “barbara streisand” is this?
(2) “… may not deprive a person of life without due process of law.” Seems pretty straight forward to me. (Have to like the Dead Old White Guys for saying what they meant!)
(3) Sorry, but this is just wrong!
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Reinke Faces Life 