On Wednesday evening, Senator Rand Paul led a nearly thirteen-hour filibuster in the U.S. Senate against an immediate vote to confirm John Brennan as Director of the CIA as urged by Harry Reid. Rand Paul was joined by, among others, Senator Lee of Utah, Senator Cruz of Texas, Senator Moran of Kansas, Senator Rubio of Florida, Senator Wyden of Oregon, Senator Saxby Chambliss of Georgia, Senator Toomey of Pennsylvania, Senator Cornyn of Texas, Senator Barrasso of Wyoming, and even Senator Mitch McConnell, the Senate Minority Leader, who unequivocally voiced his support for Rand Paul's filibuster, stating, "I think it's entirely appropriate that the senator from Kentucky engage in an extended debate with the support of his colleagues."
The Senators all addressed the fundamental Constitutional question of whether the President of the United States can authorize the targeted killing of an American citizen in the United States. Earlier in the day Attorney General Eric Holder was grilled on this question in testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Lyndon LaRouche stressed that the President and his place holder are in defiance of law, and there can be no concessions made to them. Those who cringe and give in to Obama will themselves be persona non grata among their colleagues who still believe in the law and the Constitution.
During the filibuster it was disclosed that Rand Paul and Ted Cruz plan to introduce legislation to prohibit the targeted killing of American citizens. During the Senate Judiciary Committee earlier in the day, Holder said in answer to a question from Senator Grassley, that he would not support such legislation because he claims that it would limit the President's power under Article 2 of the Constitution.
When pressed as to whether he thought the President could order the killing of an American citizen not engaged in an attack in the U.S., Holder would only say that it was "not appropriate." It took four questions from Senator Cruz to get Holder to say that you can translate 'not appropriate' to 'no'. But he never said that he thought it was unconstitutional.
At 4:45 p.m. Harry Reid tried to cut off the discussion. Rand Paul said that he would be glad to end the discussion, but only after getting a written statement from the President of the United States or the Attorney General on his behalf that the President does not have the authority to kill a non-combatant in America.
Harry Reid then said the session was over, and Senators should come back on Thursday. However, the Senators ignored him and continued the filibuster.
Now the issue is squarely addressed to the President: Does he believe he has the power to kill Americans who are non-combatants? Rand Paul added later: Are there going to be terrorist Tuesdays for Americans? Senator Saxby Chamblis commented that this is not a "rocket-science question." Senator Wyden said that both Democrats and Republicans on the Senate Select Intelligence Committee are concerned about this issue. He said that more needs to be done, and cited Senators Rockefeller, Udall and Heinrich as among those who share this concern.
A number of the Senators explicitly raised the Federal Appeals Court decision of January 25, 2013, that the President had acted unconstitutionally in making recess appointments when the Congress was not in recess. At the time of this decision, Lyndon LaRouche stressed in an international webcast that this institutional rebuke of Obama's violations of the constitution was of crucial historic importance, and that the actions of the judicial branch would create the context for patriots in the legislative branch to take a stand against the criminality of Obama. We now see members of the Senate taking that stand, and the developments of today represent a dramatic and significant escalation in the ongoing fight to defend the United States Constitution and our republic's fundamental system of law.
