"Members of the Judge Advocates General [ #JAG] Corps... are military lawyers whose core functions involve military justice and #law of war. They offer advice on questions including what constitutes an #illegal order, what is a #WarCrime, what is a constitutional violation. Replacing their leadership with Trump loyalists could have serious implications for how the #military reacts in a number of situations"
https://joycevance.substack.com/p/friday-night-massacre-in-the-military

"We have an administration that is waging war against the rule of #law... We don’t yet know how far it will go as it seeks to control, reinterpret, rewrite, ignore or defy legal constraints, incl the #Constitution itself. The replacement of the military #JAG leadership is one skirmish in that #war, but it’s time for the #American people... to recognize what is happening. #America has a rogue president... we need to acknowledge that & respond."
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/24/opinion/trump-hegseth-cq-brown-pentagon-firings-jag.html?unlocked_article_code=1.zk4.xGt0.VQTtps801Xnq&smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare

Rosa Brooks, a law professor at Georgetown, succinctly summed up #Trump’s goal in a comment she posted on X. Citing the firing on Feb 21 of top lawyers for the #Army, #Navy & #AirForce, Brooks wrote, “It’s what you do when you’re planning to break the #law: you get rid of any lawyers who might try to slow you down.”

“He got away with it. So he expects, reasonably, that he can do it again.”

#Trump & his allies are using their drive to slash the size of the federal work force to break the bonds of #restraint. To do so, they are deploying a strategy of #intimidation, #punishment & #coercion. They have silenced #watchdog agencies, discharged prosecutors, forced resignations & dismissed government officials whose job it was to maintain #ethical standards.

“The backward-looking reason is #revenge. Some of these people & offices have stood in his way before or tried to hold him accountable for his actions. So he wants to destroy them.

“The forward-looking reason is…to use his #power corruptly. In his first term, #Trump #profiteered from his office in ways that no other post-Watergate president would have dared…, including by encouraging diplomatic travelers from foreign countries to patronize his hotels.
#felon47 #DOJ #JAG #MafiaState #kleptocracy

“#Trump & #Hegseth will now get to choose the #JAG leadership for all three #military departments. One has to ask why JAG leadership was singled out for replacement. This is part of a much larger pattern of disrespect, even disdain, for the rule of #law. We do not need JAG leaders who fit this pattern.”

“If there is one characteristic of this president & this admin, it is the utter lack of respect for legal constraints. #Trump has been clear about his views. Among many examples, he recently wrote, 'He who saves his country does not violate any law.' It is clear from #PeteHegseth’s confirmation hearing, public appearances, writings & support for convicted #WarCriminals that he also does not believe #JAG officers should constrain war fighters — or presumably the president & secy of #defense.”

“But that optimism doesn’t extend to the consequences of removing the #military’s top judge advocates general [#JAG], the senior military professionals who interpret & enforce the Uniform Code of Military Justice, the rules that guide troops in the field. They have the independent #legal authority to tell any military commander or political appointee that an order from the #president or the secretary of #defense is #unlawful, cannot be given & should not be obeyed.”