cryptid-sighting:cryptid-sighting:Absent an invocation of the 25th amendment I am aware of no law or
cryptid-sighting:cryptid-sighting:Absent an invocation of the 25th amendment I am aware of no law or authority that allows the Vice President to give orders to the US military. We’re very close to a point in which civilian command and control of the military is no longer operative.Let’s be clear about what, if accurate, this report means: the Vice President can’t give orders to the military. He’s not the commander-in-chief. Technically he’s not even in the command structure, outside of some extremely esoteric Cold War era continuity of government contingencies. Mike Pence gave an order to the DC National Guard (who, because DC is a federal district and not a state are part of the regular military). The Guard followed his order. The DC National Guard decided to follow an order it had no legal obligation to follow, and could be strongly argued was entirely illegal to follow. The DC National Guard isn’t supposed to get to decide who can give them orders. What would have happened if Trump had given them contradictory orders? Do you know what it’s called when the military follows orders from someone outside the civilian chain of command instead of the commander-in-chief?We’re about one Trump tweet away from a military coup right now, and if you think well at least it’s against Trump you are deeply underestimating what a dangerous precedent this sets. -- source link