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Just Following Orders Is Not a Defense
Gregor Formanek – one of the last living SS guards – recently died at the age of 100.
The former Nazi served at the Sachsenhausen concentration camp, where thousands of innocent people were murdered. Though he lived quietly in Frankfurt for decades, investigators eventually uncovered his past, and German prosecutors moved to indict him for aiding in over 3,300 deaths.
He died before facing trial.
His passing marks the end of a long-delayed pursuit of justice and offers a timely reminder: “Just following orders” is not a defense. It wasn’t accepted at Nuremberg in 1945, and we must not accept it now.
It’s a message that today’s American law enforcement and military must hear – loudly, clearly, and urgently.
Donald Trump just signed an executive order that guts civil liberties in the name of “public order.”
The order empowers federal and state law enforcement to detain, search, and surveil individuals deemed “anti-American” or “threats to national stability” – a designation made entirely at the discretion of the executive branch, with minimal oversight and no judicial review.
In other words, if you’re a protester, immigrant, journalist, or political opponent, you can now be detained or silenced under the color of law.
