Last year, the United States targeted and killed Anwar al-Awlaki, an American citizen, in a drone strike in Yemen. There was no semblance of judicial process. Last week, Attorney General Eric Holder assured an audience at Northwestern University that the killing did not violate the Constitution. While his speech set out the government’s reasoning, it lacked any citation to legal authority. Meanwhile, the federal government is refusing to release an Office of Legal Counsel memorandum, whose existence was reported by The New York Times last fall, and is opposing Freedom of Information Act requests for the memo by the Times and the ACLU.
We can conceive that some of the facts recited in the memorandum, especially those related to intelligence sources and methods or to the cooperation of foreign governments, are properly classified. That is not true of OLC’s legal reasoning, which is not factual but based on the analysis of the Constitution, the September 2001 Authorization for the Use of Military Force, and other legal materials. When an executive officer acts in reliance on a legal opinion, the basis of that opinion should be made public, particularly where the nonjudicial killing of an American is involved.
This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.
To view this content, please continue to their sites.
Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law are third party online distributors of the broad collection of current and archived versions of ALM's legal news publications. LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law customers are able to access and use ALM's content, including content from the National Law Journal, The American Lawyer, Legaltech News, The New York Law Journal, and Corporate Counsel, as well as other sources of legal information.
For questions call 1-877-256-2472 or contact us at [email protected]
