It was only months ago when Rand Paul took to the floor of the Senate and engaged in a 13-hour long filibuster of a judicial nominee to protest the killing of Anwar al-Awlaki in Yemen and American drone policy in general, but it seems like a lifetime ago now that Rand Paul has committed to flip flopping on a weekly basis.
At a campaign event in New Hampshire headlined by Rand Paul and Scott Brown, Rand was asked about the killing of American citizens who are fighting alongside ISIS in Iraq and Syria and he came out against due process.
RAND: “If you are engaged with battle against the United States, you really do not get due process on the battlefield. If you want to fight against the United States, you’re a target. Already, I think two Americans have been killed.”
I don’t disagree with Rand’s assessment in this particular case, but I find his new position to be very amusing given that he did, in fact, engage in a lengthy filibuster of a judicial nominee for this very reason.
In an op-ed written for The New York Times in May of this year, Rand denounced the nomination of David J. Barron to sit on the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit because he wrote two legal memos that justified “the execution without a trial of an American citizen abroad.” Rand also stated that Anwar al-Awlaki should have been tried and convicted before his execution.
Anwar al-Awlaki was an American citizen who was subject to a kill order from Mr. Obama, and was killed in 2011 in Yemen by a missile fired from a drone. I don’t doubt that Mr. Awlaki committed treason and deserved the most severe punishment. Under our Constitution, he should have been tried — in absentia, if necessary — and allowed a legal defense. If he had been convicted and sentenced to death, then the execution of that sentence, whether by drone or by injection, would not have been an issue.
That was in May.
As of September, Rand says you “do not get due process on the battlefield” if you fight against the United States.
Do you stand with Rand?
John McCormack at The Weekly Standard reports that Rand was “escorted out of the room by his press aides” at the joint campaign event with Scott Brown after he was reminded of his 13-hour filibuster.