Amid the gauntlet of billboards touting fast food, urgent care and gasoline, along busy Route 41 is one that stands out more than ever now. It urges military personnel to disobey “illegal orders.”
The billboard is on the northeast corner of Martin Luther King Jr. Drive and 41, just a few clicks from Naval Station Great Lakes.
That certainly is the chief reason Veterans For Peace paid for the advertisement. It is placed close to the right-hand turn lane that takes motorists east on MLK toward the massive North Chicago base.
Founded in 1985 during the second term of President Ronald Reagan by veterans worried about military interventions in Central America, Veterans for Peace is one of several progressive groups paying for billboards near the nation’s military installations to promote ignoring “unlawful orders.”
Others have been erected outside Fort Bragg, North Carolina, one of the largest Army posts in the U.S., and Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, home to a major Marine component. A number popped up around Chicagoland in October when Texas National Guard members were being deployed to the Windy City.
With saber-rattling to take over Greenland by President Donald Trump, the question of “unlawful orders” may come to the fore. The billboards follow a theme after five federal lawmakers late last year taped a video urging members of the military to “refuse illegal orders.”
Notably among them was U.S. Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Arizona, a highly decorated and retired Navy aviator and astronaut, who has been targeted by Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth for participation in the video. Hegseth has claimed Kelly’s statements prior to military action in Venezuela “undermined the chain of command” and constituted “conduct unbecoming an officer,” according to various accounts.
The Pentagon is conducting a review of misconduct allegations against Kelly to determine whether he should be recalled to active duty to face court-martial proceedings. Kelly, in turn, has filed a civil lawsuit against Hegseth seeking to block the efforts to downgrade his retirement rank and pay, which he claims amounts to unconstitutional retaliation against him and blocks his First Amendment rights.
The question of responding to unlawful orders for those in the military is a vague concept under the Uniform Code of Military Justice. Those in the military or who served know the UCMJ is the legal instrument governing service in all branches: Air Force, Army, Coast Guard, Marines, Navy, and even the Space Force.
Determining the legality of an order certainly depends on context. In the military, legal orders must not violate national or international laws, and conform to established constitutional laws, ethical concerns and society’s norms.
However, there could be a fine distinction between lawful and unlawful orders. Disobeying orders in the military can lead to grave punishments.
Those defying what the Pentagon may consider lawful orders would be doing so at their peril. The lawfulness of an order would be determined by a military judge.
With the Trump administration ramping up its plans to seize Greenland, a territory of NATO ally Denmark, perhaps even by force, some are suggesting troops could disobey an order to invade the large island. That includes Catholic Archbishop for the Military Services Timothy Broglio and other top Catholic prelates concerned about the Trump administration’s foreign policy aims, especially Greenland.
The BBC reported earlier this week that Broglio told the British broadcaster: “Greenland is a territory of Denmark. It does not seem really reasonable that the United States would attack and occupy a friendly nation.”
Broglio added U.S. troops “could be put in a situation where they’re being ordered to do something which is morally questionable.” He noted it “would be morally acceptable to disobey” deployment orders if troops considered them against their conscience. Chicago Cardinal Blasé Cupich has also been critical of Trump’s policies.
For some, Trump’s attention to Greenland while the U.S. economy remains unsteady is a bridge too far. The president has threatened to hit our allies with tariffs ranging from 10% to 25% if they oppose his annexation of the Danish land.
This follows military intervention in Venezuela and some of his increasingly wacky actions. Like telling the New York Giants which coach to hire, posing with a Nobel Peace Prize that was not his, threatening political enemies, flipping off a heckler during a tour of a Detroit automaker, seeking to deploy troops to Minneapolis and wanting to make Canada our 51st state.
I’m not sure if saying your commander-in-chief is losing his marbles is a reason to disobey a lawful military order. But you have to wonder what’s coming next from an increasingly erratic president.
Charles Selle is a former News-Sun reporter, political editor and editor.
sellenews@gmail.com
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