Orders is Orders - Usually, But Not Always

Maybe I didn't make this clear, but I consider issuing an illegal order to be an act of misconduct.

I'm pretty sure that the director of the CIA works for the President. Who else would he be working for? I'm really sure that the Attorney General works for the President. When Nixon ordered his AG to fire the Special Prosecutor, that was an illegal order because the Special Prosecutor could only be fired under certain circumstances, and this wasn't one of them. In this case, the AG chose to resign rather than obey an illegal order. Another option would have been to obey the order under protest and report the matter to somebody in Congress. Either way, the AG would not be prosecuted, if it ever came down to that. Nixon eventually resigned to avoid being impeached but, if he hadn't, the AG would likely have been called as a witness during the impeachment process. Like I said, it's better to be a witness than a co-defendant.

Military personnel usually take of their hat when they come indoors, but not when they're under arms. The term "under arms" has a specific definition which includes, but is not limited to, carrying a weapon. It also includes certain other items, like a pistol belt or a flag holder, that might be worn for some ceremonial purpose. If a sergeant ordered me to take off my hat when I was under arms, I would point out the fact that I was under arms, and he would likely rescind the order. If he insisted that I take off my hat anyway, I would obey under protest and report it to the next highest authority. This would prevent me from getting my ass chewed by the next highest authority if he saw me walking around under arms without my hat on. The sergeant might be pissed at me, but that would be his problem. Better he should have a problem than I should have a problem. Now if I was a big suck who wanted to please my sergeant at all costs, I might just take off my hat without argument. In the event that I was caught, I would take the fall for my sergeant and not report him. This would put the sergeant in my debt and, if he was any kind of a sergeant, he would find some way to reward me for my loyalty to him. This might be why Bork agreed to fire the AG for Nixon, but it didn't work out for him because Congress refused to confirm his appointment to the Supreme Court years later. Sometimes you win, and sometimes you lose, but I believe being right is more important than winning or losing.

I don't think it was ever illegal to be a member of the Communist Party. Of course it was illegal to be a spy who gave secret stuff to the Russians, but being a card carrying party member had nothing to do with that. During the Great Commie Witch Hunt there was something called "The Attorney General's List of Subversive Organizations." I saw a copy once, and there must have been hundreds of organizations listed. I'm pretty sure most of those organizations were not illegal, but if you were  member of one of them, you might not get hired for a job or admitted to the country club of your choice. I think what happened with the Birchers was that somebody started a rumor that the John Birch Society was on that list, but I don't believe it ever was. I don't think any formal charges of any kind of illegal activity were ever filed against the Birchers, but a lot of people thought there were because of all the attention they got from the media for awhile. Ironically, the Society's membership rolls experienced a growth spurt during this time, which may be why the media quit talking about them. Then again, maybe the media just got bored and moved on to something else. Believe what you will.