[Rockstar]

When I said Yates was doing her job, it was not an implicit negation of the ban; it was intended to express the belief the duty of any Cabinet member is not just to be a "rubber stamp" or a "Yes man". Cabinet members are there to advise the POTUS on their views as to the legality, practicality, or impact of a Presidential decision. There is nothing in the law commanding/demanding a Cabinet member to blindly and without objection obey or carry out what they deem to be an unlawful order.

Even the UCMJ makes obedience mandatory only, and explicitly, when an order is lawful. Barring any legal compulsion, any Cabinet member is free to express their views and opinions; and they're duty is not to defend the decisions of any President; their duty is solely to do what they swore to in their oath: support and defend the Constitution of the United States. The President of the United States is not the Constitution; the Constitution is the Constitution and it is far greater and more important than any President...

I know the UCMJ having had on occasion to stand tall before the man hat in hand to recieve punishment. I'll say this if I were to say "gee captain 'I think' thats an unlawful order" and then tell everyone under me not to follow it. I have a hard time believing any reasonable person would be surprised if I wasnt fired on the spot and thrown in the brig. Its one thing to have a differing opinion and suffer the consequences because of it. Its another to tell the captain no and on top of that send a memo to the rest of the crew expecting everyone else to follow me. Can you guess what that falls under in the UCMJ? In her case I think she screwed up by looking through the glasses of party politics rather than those of the Office she held. Instead of stepping down because of her firm belief that what she was expected to do was wrong. She just decided to not do it and sent out a memo expecting everyone else to follow her in defience. Bad move, real bad move and instead of retiring or stepping down with honor she got fired! She gets not one ounce of sympathy from me.

As far as the oath dont forget the second part of it. The part she refused to do that got her fired.

On the subject of Cabinet members dissenting from the views of the President, I would point to the recent confirmation hearings where not a few of the Cabinet nominees have expressed views and opinions contradicting Trump's own utterances and beliefs; are they to be denied their seat at the table?; or are they just lying just to get the job, because, if so, committing perjury under oath before Congress is very worrisome indeed...

Should Yates have resigned? Maybe yes, maybe no. She was on her way out the next day, anyway, and resigning would have been an empty act; if her desire was to underscore the perceived illegality of the Trump order, than she did what she thought best, and she was fired for it. What Trump did, on the other hand, was strategically and politically idiotic and symptomatic of the ails of the Trump administration: ill-thought-out actions followed by very poor execution. Those guys need to really do their homework and really need to know how to properly and successfully carry out a process. Right now it looks like a middle school team trying to play an NFL team...

It may have been idiotic, but it was not explicitly against the law. Had it been I confident both parties would have gotten out their torches and pitchforks and all hell would have by now broke loose. But as we see our system of government appears to be working. As lower court judges are begining to offer differing views shutting down the executive order. Eventually it may go to the final arbiter SCOTUS.