Would Abe Lincoln Be Into Drones?
Either Way, Yes or No, the Approach Would Not Be Like Obama’s
Abraham Lincoln never ordered a drone strike. Nor was he ever forced to determine exactly when the government should Mirandize a terror suspect. Yet he confronted all kinds of dilemmas about how the rule of law applies during times of crisis. Despite the vast differences between the Civil War president’s age and ours, Lincoln’s approach to these types of challenges offers a valuable insight about constitutional decision-making.
Americans routinely invoke the “separation of powers” when describing constitutional authority, but that phrase has been misunderstood, particularly in the context of national security. …
