Judge Throws Out Challenge to Targeted Assassination

Dec. 7, 2010 -- In a victory for the Obama administration, a federal judge threw out a lawsuit today challenging the governments' authority to assassinate Anwar Al-Awlaki, a U.S. citizen hiding in Yemen.

Awlaki is a member of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP). He has been linked to the attempted bombing of Northwest Airlines Flight 253 on Christmas day 2009, the shootings at Fort Hood in Texas by Army Maj. Nidal Hasan and the recent seizure of bomb-making materials in the cargo of two planes.

According to ABC's Martha Raddatz, President Obama himself has authorized the targeted killing of Awlaki in Yemen, where he is believed to be hiding.

Two public interest groups, the American Civil Liberties Union and the Center for Constitutional Rights, had filed the suit on behalf of Anwar al-Awlaki's father, Nasser al- Awlaki. They sought a declaration from the court that the Constitution and international law prohibit the government from carrying out targeted killings outside of armed conflict, except as a last resort to protect against imminent threats of death.

But U.S. District Judge John Bates found that the court had no jurisdiction to hear the case because it was brought by Awlaki's father instead of Awlaki himself. Furthermore, the judge agreed with the government that the issue of whether Awlaki poses a national security threat to the United States is best left to the political branches and not the Court.

Lawyers for Nasser Al-Awlaki argued that his son could not bring the case on his own because he was in hiding and feared for his life.

The judge disagreed. "There is reason to doubt," Bates writes, "whether Anwar Al-Awlaki, is, in fact, incommunicado. Since his alleged period of hiding began in January 2010, Anwar Al-Awlaki has communicated with the outside world on numerous occasions."

Referring to statements that Awlaki has publicly expressed regarding his desire for "jihad against the West," Judge Bates writes, "Such statements -- which reveal a complete lack of respect for U.S. law and governmental structures as well as a belief that it is 'legal' and 'legitimate' to violate U.S. law -- do not reflect the views of an individual who would likely want to sue to vindicate his U.S. constitutional rights in U.S. Courts. "