The Obama administration is preparing to publicly disclose for the first time a secret memo offering the legal justification for targeted drone strikes on U.S. citizens on foreign soil , multiple administration officials told CNN . Solicitor General Don Verrilli decided not to appeal the April 21 ruling by the 2nd U.S . Circuit Court of Appeals mandating the disclosure of the memo , and Attorney General Eric Holder agreed with that decision . The White House was informed Tuesday of the Justice Department 's decision . The memo wo n't be made public right away . It has to go through a redaction process that will need to be approved by a judge , according to the administration officials . A redacted version also means that some of the intelligence the administration used to justify the drone strikes will not be made public . The memo to be released publicly has already been offered to the Senate on a classified basis , a senior administration official said . The legal explanation for the drone strikes was also outlined by the Justice Department in the dismissal of a lawsuit filed by the father of suspected terrorist leader Anwar al-Awlaki . The administration said in that lawsuit that al-Awlaki posed an imminent threat . Anwar al-Awlaki was later killed in a U.S. drone attack in Yemen in 2011 . The memo 's author , former Justice Department official David Barron , has been nominated to be a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit , based in Boston . Several U.S. senators from both parties had called upon the administration to release the memo to the public before Barron 's confirmation . A procedural vote on Barron 's nomination is expected Wednesday in the Senate . The American Civil Liberties Union , which filed a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit for the memo along with the New York Times , said it hopes the release `` signals a broader shift in the administration 's approach to the official secrecy surrounding its targeted killing program . '' `` The release of this memo will allow the public to better understand the scope of the authority that the government is claiming , '' ACLU Deputy Legal Director Jameel Jaffer said in a statement Tuesday .
The Obama administration will comply with a court ruling to release the memo . A redacted document will be released to the public after a judge approves it . The memo outlines the legal argument for targeting Yemen citizens on foreign soil . U.S. citizen Barron was killed in U.S. in a drone strike in April 21 .