Guest Post: Brian Lee Cox says “Active-duty Troops Did Not Violate the UCMJ or DoD Policy Merely by

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Guest Post: Brian Lee Cox says “Active-duty Troops Did Not Violate the UCMJ or DoD Policy Merely by Attending the ‘Save America Rally'”

by Charlie Dunlap, J.D. · 5 February 2021

Today’s post is by Cornell Law’s adjunct professor Brian Lee Cox who grapples with the fallout following what he rightly calls the “deplorable siege on the United States Capitol” last month.  Specifically, Brian focuses upon the idea that active duty members who merely attended the rally that, as he notes, “preceded the Capitol siege” violated the UCMJ or Department of Defense (DoD) policy.  Brian thinks not.

As we often say on Lawfire®, facts really do matter. And when accusations of criminal misconduct are made, the facts are–or ought to be–decisive.  What Brian does in this case is to unpack the facts in this case and apply them dispassionately to the law, something we don’t see often enough in the media or other venues.

Parenthetically, Lawfire® readers know that I’ve long been concerned about protecting the civil liberties of disfavored persons.  In 2017, for example, I wrote “Defending My Enemy”: Will the legal profession rise to the challenge?

https://sites.duke.edu/lawfire/2021/02/05/guest-post-brian-lee-cox-on-active-duty-troops-did-not-violate-the-ucmj-or-dod-policy-merely-by-attending-the-save-america-rally/