Nineteen retired generals, admirals and former Secretaries of the Army, Navy and Air Force have signed onto an amicus brief opposing Trump's claim of presidential immunity. Some highlights:
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- "[Trump's] theory that the President is absolutely immune from criminal prosecution, if accepted, has the potential to severely undermine the Commander-in-Chief's legal and moral authority to lead the military forces as it would signal that they, but not he, must obey the rule of law. Under this theory the president could, with impunity, direct his national security appointees to, in turn, direct members of the military to execute plainly unlawful orders, placing those in the chain of command in an untenable position and irreparably harming the trust fundamental to civil-military relations. [Trump's] contention that the [potential for criminal prosecution of the president] would deter the president from taking the bold action the office requires, including military action, is profoundly ahistorical: the absence of absolute immunity has been assumed since the Founding and has presented no challenge to presidents discharging their duties."
- "The rule of law is critical to the military's mission and to the people's trust in the armed forces. The military service members' duty to disobey unlawful orders plainly illustrates this point. This duty requires service members, who are bound to obey all lawful orders, to disregard patently unlawful orders from their superiors and prohibits service members from using such orders as a defense to criminal prosecution. Immunizing the Commander-in-Chief from criminal prosecution, as [Trump] argues for here, would fly in the face of that duty, creating the likelihood that service members will be placed in the impossible position of having to choose between following their Commander-in-Chief and obeying the laws enacted by Congress. And it would threaten the unity of the chain of command, from civilian leaders to military leaders down to units and service members, upon which the proper functioning of the military depends. Not only does [Trump's] approach threaten to inject chaos into military operations, it also threatens to damage - - perhaps irreparably - - the public's trust in the military and the willingness of recruits to join the armed forces."
Trump immunity bid opposed by 19 top former defense officials in brief filed with Supreme Court
Nineteen retired generals, admirals and former top civilian defense officials have filed a brief with the U.S. Supreme Court opposing former President Donald Trump’s bid for immunity from prosecution.
