DISCLAIMERS: I do not want a debate about Fox News. I do not want a debate about Andrew Napolitano or his column. I do not want a debate about military surveillance drones. In fact, I don’t want any debates at all; that’s why I put this in GQ.
I’d like to sue to stop this. Tilting at windmills, and all that, but at least my voice will be heard. How does one sue the government? Simply download the right form from legalzoom.com and pay the filing fee? Do I have to file in federal court?
What standing do you have? Meaning what exact and specific harm have you incurred because of the use of drones? It sounds like you have none at all. Without standing you are in the same boat as those people who are suing because Obama is not a citizen. They may feel that an injustice has occurred but they have not in law been harmed and so every suit get tossed.
You might also want to ask why a former federal judge who works for FOX News is writing columns on this rather than suing, which he would presumably know how to do were it possible.
As a first step, you need to decide what you’re suing for.
A lawsuit is a request that a court decide that someone else has injured or damaged you in some way – some way that society is prepared to recognize – and take some action to make you whole.
But note my parenthetical phrase well. Suppose you said, “I hate my job because my boss is so boring, and I want to sue my boss to make him stop being boring.” You won’t get far, because the law doesn’t recognize that you have any right to demand that your boss not be boring.
But suppose you said, “I hate my job because my boss demands I sleep with him or he’ll fire me.” Now you have complained about something that the law recognizes as a reasonable expectation – you are legally entitled to be free some sexual demands as a condition of employment.
So – what does the drone program do to you that you want the court to remedy?
You’re in much the same position as the plaintiffs in Schlesinger v. Reservists Committee to Stop the War, 418 U.S. 208 (1974) - you can’t sue as a citizen because haven’t suffered a concrete, actual injury in fact that is particularized to you as opposed to the general populace, and you can’t sue as a taxpayer because you can’t show a nexus between your taxes and the claim you seek to adjudicate, as you could if you were challenging government expenditures that violate the Establishment Clause. Even if you could get past the standing issue, the Court would likely view it as a political question; i.e., that the use of military force in foreign policy decisions made by the President are nonjusticiable in the Courts - extremely sensitive matters that do not easily lend themselves to judicially manageable standards. Your only avenue of redress is your vote.
Wait, do you mean what are the actual mechanics to sue the federal government even if you know you’re going to lose? That’s a little different. To initiate a lawsuit against the federal government, just file a lawsuit in federal district court and serve it. To serve the federal government:
So, do that. Be forewarned, whoever answers will simply file a motion to dismiss your case for failure to state a claim or a motion for summary judgment, which will be quietly granted and likely won’t get any farther than the district court unless you come up with some really, really, really novel argument for standing and justiciability.
