No Pardon for Illegal Orders
Putting on the Pritzker
Trump is once again dangling the fantasy of using the military as his personal police force. The latest whisper: send troops into Chicago, crack down on crime, make a show of “order.” It sounds tough on a stage. On the ground, it’s unlawful.
Here’s the part they don’t say out loud: if the President sends the military into a state without lawful authority, and those troops or federal agents commit crimes under state law (assault, unlawful arrest, kidnapping) those are state crimes. And presidential pardons do not touch state crimes.
That’s black letter law. Article II pardon power extends only to federal offenses. That’s why Steve Bannon, Paul Manafort, and Trump allies walked away from federal charges, but New York and Georgia cases loom like a shadow. States are sovereign. Their laws are not Trump’s to erase.
Illegal Orders Don’t Become Legal by Being Orders
The defense of “just following orders” collapsed at Nuremberg. It collapsed again in United States v. Calley (1973), the My Lai massacre case, where soldiers learned that an unlawful order carries no shield. In American law, an illegal order is not a defense.
It is a liability.
If a soldier or officer crosses into Chicago under an illegal directive and lays a hand on someone, they are not following lawful authority. They are committing assault under Illinois law. They can be arrested, tried, and imprisoned by Illinois courts. And no signature from the Oval Office can rescue them.
This Is Not Just Theory
We’ve seen the limits of the pardon power in real time. Trump pardoned federal crimes, but he could not touch state prosecutions. That’s why his allies still face cases in Georgia, why Bannon still faced state-level fraud charges even after a federal pardon. The system built a firewall: federal power cannot erase state sovereignty.
That firewall matters most when intimidation becomes the tactic. If Trump tries to use the military as a cudgel against cities, he is not just abusing federal power. He is exposing his followers to state prosecution. No shield. No escape.
The Real Message
This isn’t about “crime in Chicago.” It’s about theater, intimidation, and normalizing the idea of unchecked power. But the law cuts through the stage lights:
Illegal orders are not lawful.
Federal pardons stop at state lines.
Accountability can’t be signed away.
TOW
The bluff only works if people believe obedience will be rewarded. But illegal orders turn followers into defendants, not patriots.
ETHER
A pardon is not a crown. State law is the reminder that no king sits in Washington.