Springfield, IL… Following a 13-hour filibuster on the U.S. Senate floor Wednesday by Senator Rand Paul (R-Kentucky), State Representative Adam Brown (R-Champaign) filed a resolution Thursday opposing the use of drone strikes against U.S. citizens on American soil.
U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder recently stated in testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee that President Barack Obama has the authority to use an unmanned drone strike to kill U.S. citizens on American soil. The Obama Administration has yet to release the legal memoranda supporting the use of drone strikes against Americans.
“The use of drones to kill Americans here at home would trample on the constitutional due process rights of all Americans,” Rep. Brown said. “We have a responsibility to protect the civil liberties of all our citizens. The last thing we want is for our hometowns to become warzones.”
House Resolution 141 urges the Illinois congressional delegation to eliminate the threat of drones being used to conduct warrantless searches of U.S. citizens by supporting passage of the Preserving Freedom from Unwarranted Surveillance Act. It further urges U.S. Attorney General Holder to publicly release the legal memoranda supporting the use of drone strikes against American citizens on U.S. soil.
“All of our citizens have the constitutional right to due process and trial by jury,” Brown said. “No American should be killed on U.S. soil without first being charged and found guilty of a capital crime. Furthermore, our citizens should not be subjected to warrantless searches via ‘eye in the sky’ drones that watch our every move. If the government wants to conduct aerial surveillance of its citizens, they should get a warrant first.”
