A key reason I got involved in digital libraries years ago was the promise of reliable information empowering people to be more knowledgeable and responsible in their actions. One of the oldest digital library sites on the Web is Cornell’s Legal Information Institute, which has had the mission since 1992 to make legal information free for all.

Here is some of the information provided on the site that I was recently reminded of:

All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside. No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

[US Constitution, Amendment XIV, Section 1]

An individual, except the President, elected or appointed to an office of honor or profit in the civil service or uniformed services, shall take the following oath: “I, AB, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God.” This section does not affect other oaths required by law.

[5 U.S. Code § 3331 – Oath of office]

Any employee who has authority to take, direct others to take, recommend, or approve any personnel action, shall not, with respect to such authority…. take or fail to take, or threaten to take or fail to take, any personnel action against any employee or applicant for employment because of… refusing to obey an order that would require the individual to violate a law, rule, or regulation.

[5 U.S. Code § 2302 – Prohibited personnel practices, traced through increasingly specific subsections (b), (9), and (D)]

In summary: Most people working for the government have taken an oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States, which supersedes any requirement to follow the orders of any particular person, up to and including the President, when that person’s orders contradict the Constitution. They have the right to refuse to obey an order that violates the law. Furthermore, if the order also violates the Constitution, their oath makes that right a duty.

The Legal Information Institute, and other free digital libraries, also include lots of rulings of the Supreme Court and lower courts. These courts have the last word under American rule of law about the meaning of the Constitution. If the President, or any other individual, claims the Constitution means something it doesn’t say, such as that many people the Fourteenth Amendment says are born citizens aren’t really citizens, and doesn’t have the courts backing up his claim, that claim does not merit any more credence than his claims, say, that some people aren’t really people. Any orders he makes based on those claims do not override the duty of government officials to follow the Constitution, which in the Fourteenth Amendment quoted above guarantees birthright privileges and immunities to citizens, as well as due process and equal protection to “any person”, whether citizen or not.

If you know people who work for the government, or witness people in their work for the government, you have the power, and often the duty, to remind them of their duties and rights regarding the Constitution and the guarantees and obligations it sets.

As former government officials like Jeff Neal point out, even though government officials know about their oaths of office and know that orders can be unlawful, it can still be a challenge to recognize and respond appropriately to unlawful orders. If you’re in need of information to help you determine, and decide what to do about, orders that may violate the law, the Constitution, or your conscience, consider reaching out to a librarian near you for guidance. That’s what we’re here for.