That is a threshold question and as long as Obama is president he is obligated to prove his eligibility if so questioned. I think Lakin has a right to discovery on the issue, since his defense is predicated on nothing more than a request that the president prove he is legitimately authorized to give deployment orders and if he is denied the discovery and then convicted, then his conviction should be overturned.
If he were given an order by a General who refused to show him, when questioned, his commission, then he could not be convicted unless it were shown that the order came down from a person who had the authority to give that order. The constitutionality of any deployment by a president is contingent upon that person being eligible to hold the office.
Obama has an obligation to present ALL evidence of his eligibility before anyone has an obligation to obey any of is orders.
I hope you’re right, but I have a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach.
The Sep 2001 Congressional authorization still holds, so once presidents change, the issue might become the authority of Congress to promote and approve of officers in the military (which it does, especially to such offices as the CJCS which issues orders to officers such as Lakin....iow, they no longer come from the president, but from the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff)
I’m up in the air about this one, P-M, and I still think Lakin’s best recourse is to plead post-deployment stress disorder and ask for retirement.