{"id":60475,"date":"2020-10-12T21:42:43","date_gmt":"2020-10-12T21:42:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/marinecorpstimes\/uncategorized\/2020\/10\/12\/inside-the-orders-project-giving-second-opinions-on-orders-to-election-wary-troops\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T12:37:07","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T12:37:07","slug":"inside-the-orders-project-giving-second-opinions-on-orders-to-election-wary-troops","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/marinecorpstimes\/news\/2020\/10\/12\/inside-the-orders-project-giving-second-opinions-on-orders-to-election-wary-troops\/","title":{"rendered":"Inside the Orders Project – giving \u2018second opinions\u2019 on orders to election-wary troops"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A new non-partisan group headed by two former Judge Advocate Generals and a former Guantanamo Bay defense attorney is establishing a legal advice network for troops who might want a second opinion on the legality of orders related to the election.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Military Times interviewed the founders of The Orders Project<\/a>, who self-style as its \u201cSteering Committee,\u201d via Zoom on Sunday to learn more about their backgrounds, their inspiration, their goals, and the project\u2019s structure. The Washington Post first reported on their plans<\/a> Friday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All three of the group\u2019s leaders have a significant experience interacting with the U.S. military.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eugene Fidell was a uniformed Coast Guard lawyer during the Vietnam era, and in the years since he has worked extensively on military justice \u2014 at Yale, New York University, and Harvard, in addition to private practice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Co-founder Philip Cave is a retired Navy judge advocate general with more than 40 years of combined military justice experience in public and private practice. Cave\u2019s Navy career culminated as deputy director of the Criminal Law Division, Office of the Judge Advocate General of the Navy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fidell also formerly headed the National Institute of Military Justice, and Cave sits on its board of directors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The third co-founder, Brenner Fissell was an attorney-advisor for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces and a Defense Department civilian attorney who worked on defense appeals at the Guantanamo Bay Military Commissions. Fissell is today a law professor at Hofstra University.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c[They] were feeling some discomfort\u201d<\/b><\/h6>\n\n\n\n

Fidell, the former Coast Guard JAG, said that their inspiration for the project began in June, when they began \u201cpicking up anecdotal information that the [National Guard troops]…were feeling some discomfort, particularly arising from the Lafayette Park drill in Washington, DC, the one that culminated in President Trump\u2019s photo op at St. John\u2019s [Episcopal] Church.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These anecdotal reports were borne out by D.C. Army National Guard Maj. Adam DeMarco, who testified to the House Natural Resources Committee in July. \u201cI knew something was wrong\u201d when law enforcement began violently clearing peaceful protestors from Lafayette Square, he said. \u201cI started talking to my fellow service members, and they were expressing many of the same consternation and concerns.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\t