Democratic lawmakers urge troops to disobey illegal orders

Members of the military salute during the U.S. Marine Corps 250th anniversary event at Camp Pendleton Beach in Oceanside, California, on Oct. 18. Credit: Sandy Huffaker/Bloomberg/Getty Images/File via CNN Newsource

Half a dozen members of the U.S. Congress who previously served in the military or intelligence community are urging service members and intelligence officials to disobey illegal orders that might be issued by U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration.

In a video posted on X Tuesday, U.S. Democratic lawmakers Sen. Elissa Slotkin, Sen. Mark Kelly, Rep. Jason Crow, Rep. Maggie Goodlander, Rep. Chris Deluzio and Rep. Chrissy Houlahan said the “threats to our Constitution” are coming “from right here at home,” and repeatedly urged the military and intelligence community to “refuse illegal orders.”

“No one has to carry out orders that violate the law, or our Constitution,” they said. “Know that we have your back… don’t give up the ship.”

In the video, the lawmakers don’t specify which orders service members have received, or might receive, that could be illegal.

Service members are required to follow only lawful orders in accordance with the Uniform Code of Military Justice. Following an order that might violate the law could open service members up to prosecution, as legal precedent holds that receiving an order alone isn’t a defence, colloquially known as the “Nuremberg defense” as it was deployed by senior members of Adolph Hitler’s leadership team during legal proceedings after World War II.

The video comes as U.S. military officials, including the commander of U.S. Southern Command, and U.S. allies, including the U.K., have questioned the legality of a series of military strikes targeting suspected drug traffickers in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific. The attacks have killed at least 83 people since September. The Trump administration is also fighting multiple court cases over its use of troops in American cities, raising legal questions about how the military can be used on U.S. soil.

Republican lawmakers quickly pushed back on the video. Republican Sen. Marsha Blackburn told Fox on Wednesday, “It is inconceivable that you would have elected officials that are saying to uniformed members of the military who have taken an oath that they would defy the orders that they have been given to execute their mission.”

Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham told Fox on Tuesday that “the senators and congressmen who made a video suggesting our men and women in the military do not have to follow unlawful orders have yet to show us an example. They owe it to our men and women in the military to be specific about orders issued by President Trump or those under his command that they believe to be unlawful.”

The U.S. Defence Department is relying on a U.S. Justice Department Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) opinion to legally justify the U.S. military’s strikes against boats allegedly carrying drugs. The OLC opinion includes a list of 24 different cartels and criminal organizations based around Latin America it says the administration is authorized to target, CNN has reported.

But lawmakers who have been briefed by the Pentagon about the operation have said that military officials have acknowledged not knowing the individual identities of those they are targeting before killing them. Instead, the officials said they need only establish that those on board the vessels are affiliated with cartels. Lawyers inside the Pentagon have raised legal concerns about the U.S. military strikes, CNN has reported.

Military lawyers have been conspicuously absent from recent congressional briefings on the operation, lawmakers have said. U.S. Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth fired the top uniformed lawyers for the U.S. army and air force earlier this year, telling reporters afterwards that he viewed them as potential “roadblocks to orders that are given by a commander in chief.”

To date, key lawmakers have also not received a single briefing from members of the intelligence community on its role in the boat strikes —despite submitting multiple requests for information and the Trump administration publicly citing intelligence that those killed were known drug traffickers, according to a source familiar with the matter.

Formal requests, including at least one sent to Trump’s Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, have gone unanswered, the source added, noting lawmakers have received briefings only from officials at the U.S. State Department and U.S. Department of Defence so far.