Tornado Alley (PROG)

[arizona1]

Ben Meiselas
@meiselasb
Retired top American military leaders just filed a brief with the Supreme Court urging the Court to deny Donald Trump’s claim that he could order the military to kill his political opponents and have immunity. This is from the brief: “Allowing a president to issue orders requiring subordinates to commit criminal acts or omissions would wreak havoc on the military chain of command and result in an erosion of confidence in the legality of presidential orders. It would also create the potential for disparate interpretations of the duty to obey orders, thereby risking military discipline. While the duty of obedience does not extend to patently illegal orders, an order issued by the President himself would exert a powerful gravitational pull and thus even if of dubious legality would create uncertainty in the ranks. Holding everyone in the chain of command, including the President, to the same principles of accountability under the criminal laws of the United States is essential for assuring the legality of military orders and for providing the reassurance for all levels of the chain of command of that legality.”
https://supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/23/23-939/307065/20240408151425926_23-939%20Amicus%20Brief%20of%20Claire%20Finkelstein%20et%20al_.pdf