Amendment V
No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.
This is exactly what President Obama did to U.S. Citizen Anwar al-Awlaqi yesterday – deprived him of life without due process.
All Americans, and that means ALL are granted the right to our day in court if we are charged with committing a crime. Our government has no authority to hunt any of us down and murder us because they don’t like an organization we belong to, or like any set of beliefs we subscribe to for any reason.
Every president takes an oath of office when they are inaugurated to uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States. This means they uphold and defend every word of the Constitution, not ignore parts of it when it doesn’t fit their agenda. Have other presidents in the past done this? Sure, going back to Jefferson there are examples of the US Constitution being bent to fit an agenda. This time however the Constitution has been seriously broken.
When I heard the news that Anwar al-Awlaqi had been allegedly killed, I remembered that his father had through the courts tried to stop the president from declaring his son an outlaw and fair game for killing. The judge threw out the case without hearing any evidence. This sends a chill down my spine, as it should all Americans. Now we have a government that will disregard the law and declare any American they want deserving to die. Who’s next? Bradley Manning? Anonymous? Anyone who’s views they don’t like?
More people need to make noise about this. This is terrifying, and an America I don’t want to live in.
