Targeted Killing/Drone Strike Program

April 7, 2010

The Obama administration dramatically expanded the use of drone strikes for targeted killings, including the 2011 killing of U.S. citizen Anwar al-Awlaki in Yemen without judicial process. The program raised profound Fifth Amendment due process concerns, as the government killed a citizen without indictment, trial, or conviction. The ACLU and others challenged the program, but in Al-Aulaqi v. Obama, the D.C. District Court dismissed the case on political question and standing grounds. A leaked DOJ white paper argued the executive could target citizens who posed an "imminent" threat, redefining imminence to not require evidence of a specific attack. The program tested the outer limits of executive war powers, the applicability of the Bill of Rights extraterritorially, and whether the political question doctrine can shield lethal executive action from any judicial review.