A coalition of Democratic lawmakers with military and intelligence backgrounds urged servicemembers and those in the intelligence community to defy any illegal orders.
The video, which is edited to show multiple lawmakers reading one statement, comes as President Trump has carried out deadly boat strikes in the Caribbean, near Venezuela.
“We know you are under enormous stress and pressure right now, Americans trust their military, but that trust is at risk. This administration is pitting our uniformed military and intelligence community professionals against American citizens like us. You all swore an oath to protect and defend this constitution,” the lawmakers said in the video.
“Right now, the threats to our Constitution aren’t just coming from abroad, but from right here at home. Our laws are clear,” they added. “You can refuse illegal orders…you must refuse illegal orders. No one has to carry out orders that violate the law or our constitution.”
The video features Sens. Elissa Slotkin (Mich.) and Mark Kelly (Ariz.), and Reps. Jason Crow (Colo.), Chissy Houlahan (Pa.), Chris Deluzio (Penn.) and Maggie Goodlander (N.H.).
Since the boat strikes began in September, lawmakers have pressed the Trump administration on whether servicemembers involved could be held legally responsible for deaths that may be found unlawful. The military strikes have killed at least 83 people, and while the Trump administration has accused the boats of ferrying drugs, they have blown them up in deadly strikes rather than the typical practice of interdicting the boats.
DOJ claimed in an internal opinion that servicemembers cannot be held liable for the strikes.
But Senate Judiciary Democrats, in an October letter, argued that the strikes put servicemembers in a difficult position, as they are being asked to make illegal kills.
The United States Code of Military Justice “prohibits the premeditated and unlawful killing of a human being,” they wrote in a letter, but that it also requires obeying orders, “putting our service members in the impossible position of risking criminal prosecution for carrying out an unlawful order to kill civilians or risking prosecution for disobeying superior orders.”
That’s the entire article.
Formatting emphasis mine.
Here is the video released by Democrats:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Iux161DZAA
(sorry, New York Post is the only source of the video itself, in its entirety, with no editorializing, that I can find at the moment.)
In case you missed it, this came soon after a 427-1 vote by the House of Representatives to release the Epstein Files.
Unlikely those on deployment in those Navy vessels will get this message.
They do have satellite news but it’s grainy and often not watched.
too bad, slotkin your a DINO
How that going to work out? You refuse and then the military is the ones that decide if you were given an illegal order, or you were insubordinate?
Say you’ll prosecute anyone who gives an illegal order and then maybe people will think you’re mire than a fair-weather friend
“Can?” I think they mean, “Are required to.” Just following orders is not a defense.
Not as easy to disobey as you make it out.
Good luck. There is plenty of law and precedent to examine if you want to put in the time.
tl;dr: Make the call on “lawful” orders at your personal peril, and you will almost certainly lose.
You’ll lose in the short term. If you follow the order and the Fascists lose, you lose in the long term. You’re going to be court martialed if you disobey, but hopefully they’ll be held accountable if the don’t too. (IIRC the consequence is death.)
“Can” is less likely to trigger a Reactive response IMO.
Also appeals to conscience and duty rather than authority, which is more intrinsically motivating.
I’m thought that for more than most it’s not just an option but their explicit duty to refuse illegal orders.
Take an hour, even half an hour, and see what experts have to say about making the call on “illegal orders”.
tl;dr: Make the call to disobey, you are fucked.
First 216 to 1. Then this. Trump is a lame duck just 10 months into his administration. He had all the power possible, took a lot more, and squandered it.
Imperial boomerang moment in 3, 2…
