What Happens if the President Issues a Potentially Illegal Order to the Military? (July 2024)
www.military.com

... t's late on a weekday afternoon and a group of military officers -- the most senior leaders of every branch of the armed forces -- are sitting around a wide wood table under frosty overhead lights in a windowless conference room at the Pentagon.

After days of intense protests in several cities across the country, the defense secretary says the president is getting ready to order a massive deployment of armed troops to replace local police and bring a stop to political opposition. As the group slowly begins to discuss the details of sending active-duty troops to quash protests on American soil, one of the officers stops the group with a question.

"Is any of what we're discussing here even legal?"

The entire scenario is a work of fiction, but given presidential campaign rhetoric as Americans head to the polls in November, Military.com spent several months trying to unearth what existing safeguards and policies are in place to protect what has long been considered a hallmark of the U.S. -- an apolitical military that uses its power to fight the country's enemies, not its own citizens.

In speaking with more than a dozen Pentagon officials as well as outside experts, what emerged was ...

[imo, the article is worth the read]