Troops risk court-martial if they follow Democrats’ ‘illegal orders’ advice, former military lawyers warn
President Donald Trump said the Democratic senators’ viral video urging service members to "refuse illegal orders" should be "punishable by death," intensifying outrage across the political spectrum — and confusion...
By Fox News · Fox News
President Donald Trump said the Democratic senators’ viral video urging service members to "refuse illegal orders" should be "punishable by death," intensifying outrage across the political spectrum — and confusion about what that advice could actually mean under federal law. While the lawmakers behind the video — led by Sen. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., and joined by Sens. Mark Kelly , D-Ariz., and several Democratic House veterans and intelligence officers — framed the appeal as a defense of the Constitution, military legal codes make clear that refusing orders, even ones a service member personally believes are unlawful, can carry devastating penalties. "You can’t expect a sailor to overrule Washington lawyers," Rachel VanLandingham, a retired Air Force JAG and professor at Southwestern Law School, told Fox News Digital. "That’s why it’s unfair to put the burden on the military instead of on policymakers." Under the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ), a set of laws that governs all members of the U.S. armed forces, obedience to orders is not optional — except in the narrowest of cases where the illegality is "manifest," or unmistakably obvious. In practice, that distinction means most troops risk punishment if they refuse a command before a court or superior authority has ruled it unlawful. DANGEROUS WAR GAMES: TELLING SERVICEMEMBERS TO RESIST TRUMP INVITES PURE CHAOS The UCMJ’s Article 90 states that any service member who "willfully disobeys a lawful command" of a superior officer can face up to five years’ confinement, loss of all pay and allowances, and dishonorable discharge. If the offense occurs in wartime, the punishment can be death or any lesser penalty a court-martial decides. Article 92 — "Failure to obey order or regulation" — adds that disobeying any lawful order or regulation may also result in a court-martial, with punishments including forfeiture of pay, reduction in rank, and up to two years’ confinement. Those provisions, military lawyers say…