Can the President Kill a Citizen With No Due Process?

Anwar al-Awlaki who is by all accounts an active member of Al Qaeda in Yemen. "President Barack Obama approved the targeted killing of al-Awlaki by April 2010, making al-Awlaki the first U.S. citizen ever placed on the CIA target list." The problem is, the government has presented no evidence to authorize this and when questioned about it has claimed privileges based on state secrets. So can the president kill a citizen with no due process? Glenn Greenwald and Andrew Sullivan had a long blogsphere discussion of this about a month and half ago.

Glenn Greenwald wrote Obama argues his assassination program is a "state secret". " If the President has the power to order American citizens killed with no due process, and to do so in such complete secrecy that no courts can even review his decisions, then what doesn't he have the power to do? "

Alex Massie agreed in Obama's Hit Squad: Above and Beyond the Law

Andrew Sullivan jumped in with The Power To Kill American Citizens At War With The US. "But a single American al Qaeda terrorist in a foreign country actively waging war against us seems to me to be a pretty isolated example. And Obama always said he would fight a war against al Qaeda more ruthlessly than Bush. As he has. I agree that invoking state secrets so comprehensively as to prevent any scrutiny of this is a step way too far. But I do believe we are at war; and that killing those who wish to kill us before they can do so is not the equivalent of "assassination". My concern has always been with the power to detain without due process and torture, not the regrettable necessity of killing the enemy in a hot and dangerous war."

Greenwald then turned on his fire hose and wrote Questions for Andrew Sullivan

To which Sullivan replied Answers For Glenn Greenwald; Yes, We Are At War

And Greenwald pummeled back with Sullivan's defense of presidential assassinations

Barry Eisler also took Greenwald's side in This is Your Brain on War.

Scott Horton also chimed in on, The President’s Power to Order the Extra-Judicial Execution of an American Citizen. "But studying the Obama Administration’s statements over the last two months and reviewing the Justice Department’s response to a lawsuit filed by civil-liberties organizations acting on behalf of al-Awlaki’s father, I come away with a different impression: we’re looking at another power grab for the imperial president."

I think the conversation ended with Sullivan's Yes, We Are At War, Ctd. " I think it comes down to the notion that Glenn thinks this person is being accused of a crime in a non-military context whereas I think he is a self-described member of an enemy organization dedicated to waging war against us (which takes us back to square one)."

"I wish either of us had all the information the government has to resolve this question beyond a reasonable doubt - but am realistic enough to know that in wartime in these matters, some trust in a duly elected president of the United States at war and some secrecy in war operations is something we just have to live with."