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| SENATOR RAND PAUL (R) KENTUCKY |
Senator Rand Paul will filibuster and speak at the Senate podium until he gets answers to his questions about the drone program and killing Americans on American soil without due process of law. According to Stephen Dinan of the Washington Times:
"...The freshman Kentucky Republican has said he will hold up the nomination until he gets more information about the U.S. drone execution program, which has become a major sore point for many lawmakers on Capitol Hill...'I will speak today until the president responds and says, ‘No, we won’t kill Americans in cafes. No, we won’t kill you at home at night...' Mr. Paul said...Just hours earlier, Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. testified to a Senate committee that he believed it would be illegal for the government to kill an American who did not pose an imminent threat to security...But he could not rule out the use of drones on American soil altogether, saying only that he doubted it would happen because it’s easier to capture people here..."Yesterday Senator Paul's office released a statement saying:
"...Today, Sen. Rand Paul received two pieces of correspondence regarding the legality and constitutionality of the U.S. government using lethal force, including drone strikes, on Americans and in U.S. territory. Sen. Paul sent three inquires on the matter to President Obama's nominee to be Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, John Brennan...He finally received responses from both Mr. Brennan and U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder on one item of inquiry...Attorney General Holder stated in a letter to Sen. Paul dated March 4, 2013: 'It is possible, I suppose, to imagine an extraordinary circumstance in which it would be necessary and appropriate under the Constitution and applicable laws of the United States for the President to authorize the military to use lethal force within the territory of the United States.'..."
Senator Paul in the statement goes on to assert 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..." Although the Paul statement acknowledges that he received a response from CIA Director Nominee John Brennan that clarifies that the CIA does not have the power to authorize such operations, it asserts that "notably missing from Mr. Brennan's response are answers to the myriad other questions Sen. Paul posed to him in previous correspondence."Regarding the filibuster, in an article posted at WashingtonPost.com, Ed O'Keefe and Aaron Blake, quoted Senator Paul saying:
"...I will speak until I can no longer speak,” Paul said. “I will speak as long as it takes, until the alarm is sounded from coast to coast that our Constitution is important, that your rights to trial by jury are precious, that no American should be killed by a drone on American soil without first being charged with a crime, without first being found to be guilty by a court...”The Post article says:
"...On Wednesday, Paul elaborated on his concerns: 'When I asked the president, can you kill an American on American soil, it should have been an easy answer. It’s an easy question. It should have been a resounding, an unequivocal, ‘No.’ The president’s response? He hasn’t killed anyone yet. We’re supposed to be comforted by that....I have allowed the president to pick his political appointees,' Paul said. 'But I will not sit quietly and let him shred the Constitution. I cannot sit at my desk quietly and let the president say that he will kill Americans on American soil who are not actively attacking a country..."O'Keefe and Blake report that:
"...Paul also said that he was 'alarmed' at the lack of definition over who can be targeted by drone strikes. He suggested that many college campuses in the 1960s were full of people who might have been considered enemies of the state. 'Are you going to drop … a Hellfire missile on Jane Fonda?' Paul asked..."
Senator Paul appeared on Fox's Hannity Show last night, highlighting the topic, "A license to Kill?"
