In a
lawsuit filed late last month, the father of U.S. citizen Anwar Awlaki is asking the federal courts to prevent the Obama administration from assassinating his son without providing him with any kind of due process whatsoever. In
response to the suit, the Obama administration raises familiar arguments; for example, that the father lacks standing to proceed, or that the issue itself is a political question and outside the jurisdiction of the federal courts. They also argue, however, that their program to assassinate U.S. citizens abroad is a "state secret," which means that they do not have to disclose any information about who they intend to kill, or why.
As a moral question, this is appalling in so many ways that it is hard to know where to begin. Glen Greenwald
put it best: " Obama's now asserting a power so radical -- the right to kill American citizens and do so in total secrecy, beyond even the reach of the courts -- that it's 'too harsh even for' [David Rivkin,] one of the most far-right War on Terror cheerleading-lawyers in the nation." If the U.S. government can do this, is there anything they cannot do?
As a question of history, or politics,or institutional competence, however, this is a far more difficult question.
