My assumption would be that they receive some training on this issue. But if Newsome is calling it “unlawful” than… there should be some sort of a contingency plan, right? 😬🤷♂️
I rather doubt the Guard members deployed have received training on this. Their higher ups? Maybe – but there are uncharted legal waters here that are complicated by SCOTUS ruling that a president is immune from prosecution for executing "core" powers. No one yet knows if this will fall under that.
I mean, Trump has done a lot of unlawful stuff and not been held accountable for it. The Guard is in a tough spot here when they can’t trust that siding with the governor won’t result in retribution from the president.
Yeah, this is exactly it. Who gets to decide whether an order is or isn’t unlawful? That’s the reality. As much as we’d like it to be easy for soldiers to say “no, that’s unlawful,” the current state of our government is much too complex to make it that cut and dry.
Yes, this too. Which again goes back to if you’re a Guard member, where do you think your chances of getting out of this cleanly lie most? A state governor or a president who will potentially pardon you if anyone tries to take legal action against you?
But if they cause damage to person or property by following an illegal order then "I was just following orders" might not be a defense. I'm not much of an expert, so I think I will end my participation in this dialogue here.
Sure, but if the president says it was lawful and the governor says it wasn’t, who is more likely to win out?
I’m not prescribing or suggesting the Guard members do anything specific. I’m just pointing out that it’s not as simple as “you’re in the Guard, do what the governor says.”
If the Governor turns out to win, and a National Guard member turns out to have harmed people or property, are they in less trouble than if the President turns out to win, and said member turns out to have done nothing and harmed no one?
Comments
I’m not prescribing or suggesting the Guard members do anything specific. I’m just pointing out that it’s not as simple as “you’re in the Guard, do what the governor says.”