Targeted Killings Without Due Process

The U.S. government has formally acknowledged carrying out targeted killings including of American

citizens abroad without trial, indictment, or public judicial process.

These decisions were made in secret executive meetings, often based on classified legal memos the

public was never allowed to read. No court hearing. No jury. No chance for the

accused to respond. Officials argued that due process could be satisfied internally inside

the executive branch itself. A memo replaced a courtroom. Congress did not

vote to grant this power. The public was never asked. The legal framework

was revealed only years later, after journalists and whistleblowers forced it into the