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Drone (By: PHILIPPE LOPEZ, Getty Images)
David Jackson, USA TODAY
U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder says President Obama does not have the authority to use an armed drone against a non-combatant American on U.S. soil.
Holder cited that conclusion in a letter to Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., who engaged in a 13-hour filibuster to challenge Obama's drone program.
Paul had sought to hold up the nomination of John Brennan to be CIA director; Brennan, a White House counterterrorism adviser, has been involved in directing the drone program.
"No president has the right to say he is judge, jury and executioner," Paul said.
In his letter to Paul, Holder wrote:
"It has come to my attention that you have now asked an additional question: Does the president have the authority to use a weaponized drone to kill an American not engaged in combat on American soil?
The answer to that question is no."
Both Holder and Carney have said that, as commander in chief, Obama reserves the right to do what is necessary to protect the country.
"In an event like an attack like Pearl Harbor or an attack like 9/11, obviously the president has the constitutional authority to take action to prevent those kinds of attacks," said Carney
USA Today