[Between the Lines]

Ok, so Ester presents herself before the king. I think the very fact that the king extended his scepter indicated that he wasn't opposed to her being there without his calling for her. He even offered her half his kingdom. This doesn't even seem to me to be an example of any kind of civil disobedience.

15 Then Esther sent this reply to Mordecai: 16 "Go, gather together all the Jews who are in Susa, and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my maids will fast as you do. When this is done, I will go to the king, even though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish."

King Xerxes had already deposed Queen Vashti for something much more trivial, not showing her beauty. By the way another act of civil disobedience.

[thePilgrim]

Yes, I am not arguing that the king had given as a law that you could not come to him without being summoned. However, the king also provided a means whereby someone could come to the king and not die. Civil Disobedience seems to me to imply a kind of continuing resistance. Ester did not make any kind or continuing resistance because there was none for her to make. She was welcome into the presence of the king.