Fordham Law Review Volume 87 Issue 3 Article 13 2018 Executive Power, Drone Executions, and the Due Process Rights of American Citizens Jonathan G. D'Errico Fordham University School of Law Follow this and additional works at: https://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/flr Part of the Constitutional Law Commons, Military, War, and Peace Commons, and the President/ Executive Department Commons Recommended Citation Jonathan G. D'Errico, Executive Power, Drone Executions, and the Due Process Rights of American Citizens, 87 Fordham L. Rev. 1185 (2018). Available at: https://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/flr/vol87/iss3/13 This Note is brought to you for free and open access by FLASH: The Fordham Law Archive of Scholarship and History. It has been accepted for inclusion in Fordham Law Review by an authorized editor of FLASH: The Fordham Law Archive of Scholarship and History. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. EXECUTIVE POWER, DRONE EXECUTIONS, AND THE DUE PROCESS RIGHTS OF AMERICAN CITIZENS Jonathan G. D’Errico* Few conflicts have tested the mettle of procedural due process more than the War on Terror. Although fiery military responses have insulated the United States from another 9/11, the Obama administration’s 2011 drone execution of a U.S. citizen allegedly associated with al-Qaeda without formal charges or prosecution sparked public outrage. Judicial recognition that this nonbattlefield execution presented a plausible procedural due process claim ignited questions which continue to smolder today: What are the limits of executive war power? What constitutional privileges do American citizens truly retain in the War on Terror? What if the executive erred in its judgment and mistakenly executed an innocent citizen? Currently, no legal regime provides answers or guards against the infringement of procedural due process the next time the executive determines that an American citizen must be executed to protect the borders of the United States.