The New Dark Age

3 August, 2010 — CCR

Today CCR along with the ACLU filed a joint lawsuit to challenge the legality and constitutionality of a licensing scheme that requires lawyers to seek government permission to represent individuals that same government intends to kill. The U.S. government has claimed the power to target and kill U.S. citizens and other individuals anywhere in the world, outside of any battlefield-without charge, trial, or a judicial process of any kind.

The fact that the executive can act as judge, jury, and executioner presents an extremely dangerous expansion of power that undermines our laws, collective liberty, and safety. The executive branch is substituting a secret bureaucratic process for the due process required by the U.S. Constitution and international law. It is carrying out killings that can target innocent people, given the long and well-documented history of the U.S. government wrongly accusing both citizens and foreigners of terrorism and being a threat to national security. The government’s claimed authority to target individuals far from any battlefield is also distorting international law and effectively creating a war without boundaries or end.

Not only is the government trying to kill U.S. citizens without due process, it is also trying to stop lawyers from representing them to challenge the government’s actions.

In early July, CCR and the ACLU were retained by Nasser Al-Aulaqi to bring a lawsuit in connection with the government’s decision to authorize the killing of his son, U.S. citizen Anwar al-Aulaqi, whom the government is actively targeting in Yemen, where he is currently in hiding. Shortly after, the Secretary of the Treasury labeled Anwar Al-Aulaqi a “specially designated global terrorist,” making it a crime for lawyers to provide representation for his benefit without first seeking a license from the government.

Our two organizations applied for a license, but have not been granted one so far, despite the urgency of the representation we seek to provide. Our suit today charges that the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the U.S. Department of the Treasury has exceeded its authority by subjecting pro bono legal services to a licensing requirement, and that OFAC’s regulations violate the First Amendment, the Fifth Amendment, and the principle of separation of powers. We are asking the court to invalidate the regulations and to make clear that lawyers can provide representation for the benefit of designated individuals without first seeking the government’s consent.

It is our strong belief that regardless of the government’s allegations against Al-Aulaqi or any U.S. citizen suspected of wrongdoing, authorizing the death of individuals on secret allegations alone, outside of any legal process, and then denying such individuals legal representation to challenge that very conduct, not only violates the Constitution and our laws, but seriously undermines our collective safety. If the government suspects Al-Aulaqi of criminal activity, it should charge him, arrest him, and try him in a court of law. The executive branch cannot claim the extraordinary power to unilaterally deem people terrorists and authorize their killing, off the battlefield in countries around the world, without any fair process or oversight.

We will keep you updated on this important case. To learn more, visit our case page and read an article by our Legal Director Bill Quigley about the case.

Thank you for your continued support.

Sincerely,

Vincent Warren
Executive Director
Center for Constitutional Rights