Normal criminal prosecution is not a good check on a president's authority because the president indirectly supervises the prosecutors. So as a system to ensure "equality in the eyes of the law" the criminal justice system already is not very functional in anything like real time.
The DOJ threat of criminal prosecution only becomes functional when the president becomes a private person, at which point the president no longer has the ability to act in an official capacity anyway.
As for SEAL Team 6, they have a "duty to disobey" unlawful orders[1]-- which every member of the team probably knows off the top of their heads-- and which is a much more effective real-time check on a president's authority.
I’m not a NSW operator but I was an operator for HVT ground and helicopter assault missions in Iraq with the teams.
There are a non trivial subset of Tier1 operators who would absolutely take whatever mission they were given by the president and do not view their role as being political
Yes it’s in the training, but it’s not something that is expected because operations like this touch hundreds of people who ARENT operators (generals, joint staff, analysis, strategic planners etc…) that teams rely on to wave that flag through the targeting and JPOE process
> As for SEAL Team 6, they have a "duty to disobey" unlawful orders[1]-- which every member of the team probably knows off the top of their heads-- and which is a much more effective real-time check on a president's authority.
This is an incredibly flimsy check on power:
- What if the president uses a drone strike instead?
- What if the president staffs the military (and seal team 6) with loyalists?
- What if the president uses this power to threaten and extort officials into doing his bidding?
>As for SEAL Team 6, they have a "duty to disobey" unlawful orders[1]-- which every member of the team probably knows off the top of their heads-- and which is a much more effective real-time check on a president's authority.
Now, let's play that out in real time:
Donald Trump: please kill person XYZ.
Seal Team 6: Uh, no sir, that's illegal. We cannot do that.
Donald Trump: the courts say I have immunity, this is an official act. Person XYZ is a threat to our country, and under the constitution I'm allowed to defend this country against all enemies, foreign and domestic. This person is a domestic enemy. Kill them.
Seal Team 6: Uh, no sir, we can't do that.
Donald Trump: You're fired. I'm replacing you with someone that can do what I tell them.
Seal team 6: Ok, we'll kill person XYZ.
And the courts will have no problem with that, as per their ruling.
The DOJ threat of criminal prosecution only becomes functional when the president becomes a private person, at which point the president no longer has the ability to act in an official capacity anyway.
As for SEAL Team 6, they have a "duty to disobey" unlawful orders[1]-- which every member of the team probably knows off the top of their heads-- and which is a much more effective real-time check on a president's authority.
[1] https://www.findlaw.com/legalblogs/law-and-life/what-is-a-mi...