In this case I believe they determined that the orders given to Mr. Lakin by his superior officers were lawful. And Lakin agreed with that in his plea.
They decided all orders ever given (except to murder somebody, maybe - but even those would be lawful at this point) would be lawful even if the originating order/authorization had been given by Joseph Stalin - as long as Stalin had first taken an oath of office. Doesn’t matter what the 20th Amendment says. That’s just the Constitution, after all, and the Kenyan doesn’t want us to follow no stinkin’ Constitution. If he orders the chain of command to stop following the stinkin’ Constitution, then that’s what every guy in the military has to do - screw the oath; orders are orders.
That’s all I’m going to say to you.