Fun fact, if you're not a US citizen on US soil US law does not apply. I'm not saying this because I'm taking a side, but this was how the Patriot act had knock on effects.

An interesting case of this is something like you call a foreign national in another country and this is enough to be able to tap both sides of the conversation via Patriot Act / NSA purview.

▲ godelski 2 hours ago | parent | next [-]

  > not a US citizen ***on US soil*** US law does not apply.

1) these strikes are happening in international waters

2) US law definitely applies to non citizens on US soil.

Like that's such a ridiculous statement. Even if the law was "we can do whatever if you're not a citizen", that's still law...

You think non citizens are all sovereign citizens bound to no law? To be able to do whatever they want? I didn't know my neighbor was a diplomat.

I think you mean rights. Which this is much more dubious. The constitution definitely interchanges the use of "citizens" and "people". Notably the 11th amendment uses citizens, specifying belonging to states foreign or domestic. It was ratified only a few years after the Bill of rights, so not like a drastic language change happened.

There are people who will argue "the people" means "citizens" but I find that a difficult interpretation if you read the constitution or federalist papers.

	▲	nerdsniper an hour ago \| parent [-]
		3) quite a few US laws apply to US citizens on non-US soil (paying domestic taxes on foreign income) 4) US law applies to non-US citizens who have never set foot in the USA (Kim Dotcom)

▲ brookst 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Are you saying that non-citizen residents of the US are not subject to US laws? That seems dubious.

▲ mjanx123 an hour ago | parent | prev | next [-]

A country jurisdiction is both territorial and personal, the laws apply to anyone on the soil, and to the citizens, permanent residents, asylum seekers etc anywhere in the universe.

▲ asdefghyk 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

RE ".....not a US citizen on US soil US law does not apply....."

Does not maKE SENSE... Why are people extradited to US from overseas locations .

Like why they want Julian Assange ?

	▲	raspasov 3 hours ago \| parent \| next [-]
		Just some ideas: - Drone-bombing an embassy in downtown London does not look good on social media - He's too famous and has many supporters in the Western world to be publicly assassinated, regardless of location (example: Lady Gaga visited him while he was stuck in the embassy) - He's more useful as a deterrent, i.e., "see what might happen to you", to the people who might decide to go a similar route. Some will go that route regardless, but chances are at least a few have been persuaded otherwise. For all the ridicule of the government, the Intelligence Community seems to be doing a fairly intelligent job most of the time to satisfy its objectives.
	▲	bulbar 3 hours ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		It does not apply in general, but a country will always declare jurisdiction if deemed necessary. A common example in Germany is that the country will try to enforce German law for foreign-hosted websites hosted by citizen of another country if the website is targeted at German citizen.

▲ LastTrain 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

And we know for sure there were no US citizens on these boats?