Actually, I find Butterdezillion’s logic quite compelling and simple to follow:
If the very start of a command structure is tainted, the downstream orders are naturally tainted as well. Illegitimate, in the eyes of Joe America.
I may be a simple man, admittedly not fluent in the US military justice, but I’ve argued that the actual military “order regulations” are beside the point. Lakin knew he’d lose. He is sacrificing himself in order to draw attention to the miserable spectacle that is our current situation. There are posters more well-versed than I who can testify to what makes an order legitimate or not; from the perspective of regular folks, however, the natural injustice of taking orders of an Usurper (a man who hates America, no less!), is enough to sound warning bells in the hearts of millions.
Specifically though, for a judge to rule that whether or not the Constitutionally-vested powers a President holds are not intrinsicly tied to a deployment order’s legitimacy, is ridiculous. If not actually hard-coded into military law (a fact of which I’m admittedly ignorant), it certainly doesn’t pass the laugh test.
Let’s say tonight that I declare myself to be the electoral winner of the 2008 election. I haven’t been certified, or sworn in, or... well, anything (I do have a valid birth certificate, however). Why mustn’t our Armed Forced listen to my command, when I turn on a ham radio and order them to turn North Korea into a parking lot by dawn?
I’m not the legitimate president, of course. And neither is King O. And that is why Colonel Lakin deserves are utmost respect for what he has endured for our Constitution. Not for a President, to whom no man, citizen or solder swears an oath of fealty. America is an Idea, based on Liberty and the Rule of Law. If you start living like the law doesn’t matter, than what the hell are we defending, anyway?
That is the primary fallacy of butter's logic. The President doesn't have the sole authority to delegate responsibilities "downstream." Congress has granted specific authority for various functions of the military to various military officials through Title 10 of the U.S. Code. The authority granted by Congress in Title 10 to those military officials doesn't become null and void just because the President is ineligible.
“Let’s say tonight that I declare myself to be the electoral winner of the 2008 election. I haven’t been certified, or sworn in, or... well, anything (I do have a valid birth certificate, however). Why mustn’t our Armed Forced listen to my command, when I turn on a ham radio and order them to turn North Korea into a parking lot by dawn?”
The stupid... It burns...