What's a lawful order?

Prof, Dan Maurer sheds light on this core (and timely) issue of military law here on Lawfare. His conclusion:

Clarifying the definition of an “unlawful order” and making the disobedience of an unlawful order an affirmative duty is both legislatively feasible and a practical imperative, considering the contemporary challenges facing the military under an administration that routinely pushes on the boundaries of legality. The six recommendations above do not contradict any existing military case law or any existing provision in the UCMJ. Instead, they preserve the necessary “inference of lawfulness” while acknowledging the real-world influences that inform a soldier’s inferences, and they add a duty to seek confirmation of legality when in doubt. These recommendations together refine and codify language already found scattered across relevant provisions in the MCM. In other words, the only new thing Congress would create is clarity in a notoriously opaque area of military law at a time when definitions are essential to ensure the military itself remains subordinate only to lawful commands by civilian authority.

It is difficult, at this point, to speculate on whether Congress would actively consider such recommendations. However, it is not so speculative to say that President Trump would not sign such legislation into law, nor approve of these amendments to the Manual for Courts-Martial. These recommended reforms should spark an overdue conversation and serve as a template from which to build such reform when the political winds are more favorable.