Having raised these poignant questions, having teased the litigants and the rest of us, Judge Bates then stoically failed to answer them. He kicked the case out on jurisdictional grounds -- the matter was a non-justiciable "political question" the courts had no business answering, he said -- much in the same way that lower federal court judges in 2002 and 2003 kicked around the Jose Padilla and Yaser Hamdi cases before the Supreme Court intervened.
Judge Bates' ruling was a step backwards from the feisty and fair judicial review in terror law cases that began in 2004. He focused more on what al-Awlaki hadn't done than on what the feds had done and were clearly planning to do.
He ruled that al-Awlaki (or his family) couldn't ask the federal courts for protection from a deadly drone strike unless he surrendered himself to authorities first. Judge Bates wrote:
The Court's conclusion that Anwar Al-Aulaqi can access the U.S. judicial system by presenting himself in a peaceful manner implies no judgment as to Anwar Al-Aulaqi's status as a potential terrorist. All U.S. citizens may avail themselves of the U.S. judicial system if they present themselves peacefully, and no U.S. citizen may simultaneously avail himself of the U.S. judicial system and evade U.S. law enforcement authorities. Anwar Al-Aulaqi is thus faced with the same choice presented to all U.S. citizens.
Where Is the Judicial Branch on Targeted Killings? - Andrew Cohen - National - The Atlantic
Attorney Jim Gronquist calls the targeted airstrike a violation of both national and international law.
He says, We have become what the terrorists were."
The former ACLU attorney says regardless of affiliation or deed Awlaki & Khan were entitled to due process, We're not doing anything differently than killing people off without giving them fair trial."
Charlotte Lawyer Calls US Airstrike in Yemen Illegal | Charlotte News | Weather | Carolina Panthers | Bobcats | FOX Charlotte | Local News
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_7W0U_BuVU]Ron Paul to Obama: Don't Assassinate American Citizens! - YouTube[/ame]
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3WRexSyuQ7w]Ron Paul Attacks Institutionalized Assassination of US Citizens - YouTube[/ame]
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3xf56nWU0E]Glenn Beck Judge Napolitano on Anwar Al Awlaki assassination and Ron Paul - YouTube[/ame]