“The court can only apply the law to the facts within the scope of its jurisdiction. the court has no jurisdiction over the eligibility of Obama so it cannot deny Lakin discovery of Obama’s HI vital records on the basis that this might result in Obama being declared ineligible. That is not within the power of the court-martial.”
Non sequitur. His defense is that the order was unlawful. The only ground for a finding of an unlawful order is that the order, not the person, is violative either of the UCMJ or the law of armed conflict. I don’t see him being able to overcome the presumption. In other words, this isn’t the right venue or the right set of circumstances to stand on the ineligibility question.
Colonel, USAFR
Are you saying that the legality of the chain of command through which an officer has authority to issue orders makes no difference to the legality of the order itself?
If I gave orders to a military person to do something not criminal, and they told me to go suck a lemon because I am not legally in authority over them, would they be guilty of disobeying lawful orders? Or does the lawfulness of the order depend on the person REALLY having the authority to give the order in the first place?
Also, if Obama signed an executive order saying all our troops were to get out of Afghanistan and Lakin’s immediate superior ordered him to go to Afghanistan anyway, would it be a lawful order to Lain because it came from Lakin’s immediate superior? Or would the immediate superior’s order itself be unlawful because it was in defiance of the chain of command above him? IOW, is any “superior officer” really free to give commands based entirely on their own authority, or are all orders only lawful when they are in compliance with the orders from each higher step in the chain? Is any link in that chain really a stand-alone entity, or does the link actually connect somehow?
Thanks for your expert opinion.
Lakin and his legal team may well expect him to be found guilty as part of his ultimate strategy.
The fact pattern is unprecedented. Never before has a CIC refused to release contemporaneous documents that would prove that he born in the USA. Never before have military men had to wrestle with the implications of that refusal for their duty to defend the Constitution.