Wall Street Journal tells Rand Paul to 'calm down

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) yesterday chose to filibuster for 13 hours the nomination of John Brennan as CIA director. Editors at the Wall Street Journal's conservative opinion pages aren't happy. They wrote in an editorial today:

Senator Paul had written the White House to inquire about the possibility of a drone strike against a U.S. citizen on American soil. Attorney General Eric Holder replied that the U.S. hasn't and "has no intention" to bomb any specific territory. Drones are limited to the remotest areas of conflict zones like Pakistan and Yemen. But as a hypothetical Constitutional matter, Mr. Holder acknowledged the President can authorize the use of lethal military force within U.S. territory.

This shocked Senator Paul, who invoked the Constitution and Miranda rights. ...

Calm down, Senator. Mr. Holder is right, even if he doesn't explain the law very well. The U.S. government cannot randomly target American citizens on U.S. soil or anywhere else. What it can do under the laws of war is target an "enemy combatant" anywhere at anytime, including on U.S. soil.

The editorial concludes, "if Mr. Paul wants to be taken seriously ... he needs to do more than pull political stunts that fire up impressionable libertarian kids in their college dorms."

The Journal has in the past written favorably of President Obama's use of targeted drones.