Andrew Napolitano on the Obama Drone Memo
Last week, the Obama administration released a long-anticipated legal memo. It consists of 40 highly blacked-out pages, the conclusion of which is that the president can order the CIA to kill Americans who are present in foreign countries and who, in the opinion of high-level government officials, pose a threat to Americans but may be too difficult to arrest.
Conveniently, the memorandum never mentions the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution, which famously commands that if the government wants the life, liberty, or property of any person, it can only do so via due process. As we mark the anniversary of America's birth as a free nation, Andrew Napolitano notes that our Founders thought they were establishing a society based upon natural rights and the rule of law—but perhaps they were wrong. Perhaps we have merely gone from an inherited tyrant to an elected one.