Greenwald: How extremism is normalized: Obama's Radical Interpretation of The Bill of Rights

[gratuitous]

4. These are crimes against humanity

Coming soon to a town near you. Or in which you live. The standard now to be applied is the principle of efficiency, and if you're in the vicinity of a suspected terrorist (whether you know it or not), it's because you're probably up to no good yourself. And that's good enough for you to be red-misted by sudden death raining down from above. That's called "due process" nowadays in the United States.

I sincerely doubt that would be recognized as such by those who first penned those words.

Before summary execution is carried out, where is the presentation of evidence? Who are the witnesses? Who examines the evidence and the witnesses, and is the accused allowed to know and cast doubt on the evidence presented against him? Is the accused left with only the right to a speedy death, but not a speedy trial?

That may be many things, but it's not the Constitution. Without the Constitution, there is no United States of America. That's why the Chief Executive swears an oath to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution, not the people, not the United States, not business interests, not even his own life.

This brave new chapter in jurisprudence will be among the most shameful in American history.