REUTERS: U.S. judge dismisses targeted-kill program lawsuit

Via Reuters.com:

A judge on Tuesday dismissed a lawsuit seeking to halt the Obama administration's program to capture or kill American citizens who join militant groups abroad, a case involving a Muslim cleric in Yemen.

U.S. District Judge John Bates threw out the lawsuit on jurisdictional grounds. Bates said the father lacked legal standing to bring the case and that his claims presented political questions that cannot be decided by the courts, requiring dismissal of the lawsuit without addressing the heart of the allegations.

Our government assassinating American citizens may be many things - among them political - but it is at its core a fundamental due process issue and that's the kind of issue courts exist to address.  I wonder how much of this dismissal was based on the standing issue - which is a real issue in litigation - and how much is based on the political ramifications of the underlying policy?

The only thing missing from this little saga is Jason Bourne and Operation Blackbriar.  Of course Hollywood got it right and portrayed our system in its best light by showing that assassination of U.S. citizens was reprehensible.  In that case the CIA man - Noah Vosen - who saw himself as the "sharp end of the stick" with full authority to use extrajudicial "lethal action" was the bad guy.

I'm beginning to wonder if there is a real "Noah Vosen" heading up a real "Operation Blackbriar"...  And if Judge Bates is right then can the real "Noah Vosen" do just about anything with impunity now?