The ultimate Catch 22: What do you do when the whole chain of command is corrupted? The reason the clause was inserted in the Code of Military Justice was in reaction to the Nazi Generals' defense in the Nuremberg trials, which was "they were just following orders", and they were still hanged for their criminal acts. An excellent explainer: Explainer: Can military members refuse orders? - ABC News The one issue not addressed in this is what if the JAGs ( the military law corps) are also controlled by the president, to make the judgment call of what is or is not an illegal order? This is not a hypothetical. The president has already fired the top three JAGs in the Pentagon. How the Pentagon sidelined lawyers while testing the legal limits of military action | CNN Politics
Per Peter Wehner, writing in The Atlantic in October, "firing of the JAGs is just one element of a broader purge of the military, which started at the beginning of Trump’s second term. In February, five former defense secretaries, including JamesMattis, who served under Trump in his first term." Trump’s Plan Is Now Out in the Open - The Atlantic.
Now the FBI has been ordered to interview the 6 who dared remind the military of their rights not to obey illegal orders.FBI interviewing Democrats over ‘illegal orders’ video It seems like the president plans to issue clearly illegal orders (he did contemplate having the military shoot unarmed protesters iin his first term), The flip side of his demanding the 6 be executed for sedition is that Trump wants the military to obey illegal orders and then resistance would be before the hand picked loyal JAGs? The Constitution is still supreme over the military code of justice....so back to the Supreme Court that Trump considers "his"?
Welcome to the brave new world of Trump's pretense of dictatorship.
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