Thursday, May 22, 2014

Rand Paul to Filibuster Pro-Drone Lawyer’s Judgeship

Francis A. Boyle is an attorney and a professor  at the University of Illinois College of Law. His books include Foundations of World Order (Duke University Press: 1999) and Tackling America’s Toughest Questions (2009).   His most recent book is United Ireland, Human Rights and International Law.  




FRANCIS BOYLE, fboyle@illinois.edu


    Boyle is a professor at the University of Illinois College of Law and author of Tackling America’s Toughest Questions. While the administration now states it will release the memos Barron wrote only after the Senate votes on his judgeship, an associated 
white paper has been made public.


    Boyle said of the white paper: "It's not a serious piece of legal scholarship or analysis. Rather, the entire purpose is to provide legal cover to Obama, [CIA Director John] Brennan, the CIA and JSOC [Joint Special Operations Command] for the drone murders, including of U.S. citizens.


    Boyle added: "Barron co-authored the infamous Justice department opinion authorizing Obama's murder of U.S. citizens. This is a total disgrace. If approved, we will have a murderer and a war criminal sitting on the U.S. First Circuit. ... So here Barron and [his coauthor in the legal opinion Martin] Lederman deliberately and maliciously write a get-out-of-jail-free card for Obama so that he can murder U.S. citizens, which he does. ... Barron is neither fit nor qualified to serve as a judge on the First Circuit -- a post which would make him a prime candidate for a U.S. Supreme Court seat. ... This is exactly how Bush paid back Jay Bybee [author of legal memos on torture] when he put him on the Ninth Circuit. Obama is worse than Bush in that Obama is a lawyer and knows better
 

Francis A. Boyle
Law Building
504 E. Pennsylvania Ave.
Champaign, IL 61820 USA