Washington, May 21 (RHC)-- The Barack Obama administration says it will release the secret government memo that authorizes the killings of Americans overseas.

A U.S. federal appeals court ordered the memo’s disclosure last month following a lawsuit by the American Civil Liberties Union and The New York Times seeking the legal basis of U.S. drone strikes.

The lawsuit came after the U.S. killed the American-born cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, his 16-year-old son Abdulrahman, and Samir Khan in Yemen, despite having never charged any of them with a crime.

The White House decided not to appeal the ruling after several senators vowed to hold up a judicial nomination of the memo’s author, David Barron. But the memo’s release will be delayed as the administration redacts extensive portions it says contain classified information.