Freshman Sen. Angus King (I-ME) advocated Sunday for a court to give the green light to drone strikes against American citizens when feasible in order to provide a check on the president’s power to go after American terrorists in foreign countries.
“It just makes me uncomfortable that the president, whoever it is, is the prosecutor, the judge, the jury, and the executioner, all rolled into one,” King said on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “So I’m not suggesting something that would slow down response, but where there is time to go in and submit it to a third party, that is a court, in confidence, and get a judgment that, yes, there is sufficient evidence here, that just feels to me like that’s — it’s not full compliance with the fifth amendment. There are those who say these people should have a whole trial. I don’t believe that either. But I think some independent check on the executive is healthy for our system.”