The enthusiastic reception that Sen. Rand Paul received for his 13-hour filibuster on Wednesday shows that American politics is not rigidly doctinaire. Conservatives and liberals alike united behind the Kentucky Republican as he attempted to shame a Democratic president into acknowledging that there are clear limits on his power to kill.

Using armed drones, President Obama has assassinated hundreds of suspected terrorists — including at least one U.S. citizen — in nations where the U.S. is not at war. He has done so in far greater numbers than his predecessor, and apparently, in most cases, without giving much thought to capture as an alternative. Last month, NBC News unearthed an Obama Justice Department memo arguing that such targeted killings are legal, even absent “clear evidence that a specific attack on U.S. persons and interests will take place in the immediate future.”