Apparently letter writer Mr. Ray Anderson misread my recent letter regarding the Uniform Code Of Military Justice (UCMJ) and the JAG Corps.
I offered several examples of wannabe dictators like Trump doing what wannabe dictators do. Namely, assaulting precedents and established norms and ignoring the very structural type protections Anderson claims will hold up in the military system.
In 11 short months Trump has:
• Multiple violations of the Emoluments Clause to the Constitution. And in his first term as well.
• Violations of statutory laws that only Congress has the power to override.
• Tried to ignore the Posse Comitatus Act which prohibits the American military in American streets except in cases of insurrection.
• Using the power of billionaire donors to “primary” Republicans who would challenge Trump, eroding the very heart of our constitutional system, checks and balances and muting any congressional oversight and abandoning their “structural” Constitutional responsibilities.
• Operating a “presidential pardons for cash” scheme funneled through these same donors.
What leads Anderson to believe the UCMJ will better withstand Trump’s schemes? Trump/Hegseth are working hard to dismantle that system as we “debate.”
Manfred Messerschmidt was a German historian who wrote about the history of Nazi Germany and World War II. In his book “The Wehrmacht Justice System, 1933-1945” he presents in a comprehensive, analytical fashion the lines of legal traditions, thought and practices of Wehrmacht (German military) justice and its perversion as a tool of Nazi terror.
The problem of German military justice under the Nazi regime was “the question of the independence and attitudes of the judges.” German JAG officers. Most problematic were the new, constantly radicalizing, updated Nazi regulations regarding “war special criminal law.” Most German JAG officers were influenced by their career interests and went along with the radicalization.
At the Nuremberg trials it was made clear that individual Nazi officers, soldiers, concentration camp personnel and their own consciences, not Nazi JAG officers, were responsible for their own actions.
“Just following orders” was not an effective defense then and it is not now.
Marty Ansley
Cinebar
