What I find interesting is that according to the court martial manual, a court martial can be brought forward by officers at all levels in the chain of command,
§ 822. Art. 22. Who may convene general courtsmartial
(a) General courts-martial may be convened by—
(1) the President of the United States;
(2) the Secretary of Defense;
(3) the commanding officer of a unified or specified combatant
command;
(4) the Secretary concerned;
(5) the commanding officer of an Army Group, an Army, an
Army Corps, a division, a separate brigade, or a corresponding
unit of the Army or Marine Corps;
(6) the commander in chief of a fleet; the commanding officer
of a naval station or larger shore activity of the Navy beyond the
United States;
(7) the commanding officer of an air command, an air force,
an air division, or a separate wing of the Air Force or Marine
Corps;
(8) any other commanding officer designated by the Secretary
concerned; or
(9) any other commanding officer in any of the armed forces
when empowered by the President.
(b) If any such commanding officer is an accuser, the court shall
be convened by superior competent authority, and may in any
case be convened by such authority if considered desirable by him.
The president is at the top of that list, which to me, shows that any service member is ultimately subject to a legal President, who should not be immune from a challenge over his authority. The manual also includes a full reproduction of the Constitution of the United States. If Lakin is to uphold his oath, then he has a right and responsibility to take action to resolve the reasonable doubts about his putative CinC’s legitimacy.
In theory every chain of command ends with the president. In practicality, if one of the sailors in my division or department refused to obey an order then it would be my order he was disobeying and not President Reagan or Carter. And if a court martial had been convened then the convening authority would have been the local commander and not the president. The same is true for Lakin.
If Lakin is to uphold his oath, then he has a right and responsibility to take action to resolve the reasonable doubts about his putative CinC’s legitimacy.
I doubt the court martial will agree.