The US Justice Department brief for the assassination of US citizens
Part one
By Tom Carter and Eric London
18 April 2013

We publish here the first part of a two-part article providing a legal, constitutional and historical analysis of the Obama administration’s “white paper” supporting its policy of drone assassinations of US citizens. Part two will be posted April 19.

In a Department of Justice “white paper” leaked to the press in February of this year, the Obama administration asserted the power of the US president to unilaterally order the assassination of US citizens anywhere in the world without any judicial process.

The 16-page memo, entitled “Lawfulness of a Lethal Operation Directed Against a US Citizen Who is a Senior Operational Leader of Al Qa’ida or An Associated Force,” had previously been circulated in secret to both Democratic and Republican members of Congress, including members of congressional committees on intelligence and the judiciary.

The assertion of the presidential power to unilaterally order the murder of US citizens represents an abrogation of the entire structure of constitutional principles upon which hundreds of years of democratic jurisprudence has rested. With the assertion of that power, the US government moves into new and uncharted territory.

http://wsws.org/en/articles/2013/04/18/whit-a18.html