The President Can Drone You Under Certain Circumstances, Obviously

Eric Holder. Photo: Mark Wilson/2012 Getty Images

Eric Holder has finally answered a question that has been on the minds of Senator Rand Paul and pretty much everyone who doesn’t feel comfortable about the federal government’s unchecked power to drone American citizens on foreign soil instead of capturing them and giving them a trial: Can it also do that to American citizens on American soil? The answer, in Holder’s opinion — as expressed in a letter to Paul — is yes, in limited, extreme cases:



Paul was not pleased by the letter, saying in a statement that the U.S. Attorney General’s refusal to rule out the possibility of drone strikes on American citizens and on American soil is more than frightening - it is an affront the Constitutional due process rights of all Americans.”

But how is it not a given that the government reserves the right to use lethal force on its citizens, on American soil, in the midst of a terrorist attack? Does anyone doubt that, for example, the president would have the power to shoot down a plane being flown toward a skyscraper by an American citizen?

Of course, there are many other situations that aren’t as clear-cut as an in-progress, catastrophic terrorist attack, and, currently, there are no checks on the president’s power to eschew law enforcement and the criminal-justice system in favor of a lethal drone strike on an American citizen. That’s a problem.

The President Can Drone You, Obviously