Why must they resign?

[Senegoid]

Nixon ordered Richardson to fire Cox. Richardson refused and resigned.

Nixon ordered Ruckelshaus to fire Cox. Ruckelshaus refused and resigned.

Trump, speculatively, might order Rosenstein to fire Mueller. Op-eds on the subject all seem to agree that Rosenstein should, and almost certainly would, refuse and resign.

If you can’t, in good conscience, follow Big Boss’s orders, why must you resign? Why not just stay in the job and let the Big Boss fire you if he really means it. Who’s calling who’s bluff?

[Sunny_Daze]

They don’t have to. They could have refused to resign and gotten fired instead.

[Kolak_of_Twilo]

@Sunny_Daze

They don’t have to. They could have refused to resign and gotten fired instead.

Pretty much this. Resigning rather than performing said act is about standing up for a principle or some such.

Refusing and making the boss fire you is more of a f*$k off attitude.

[crucible]

I suspect there is legal jeopardy attached to failing to perform one’s duties, failing to execute the President’s orders…regardless of the stupidity of the order. Resignation makes the point and protects against possible prosecution.

[E-DUB]

Being fired looks worse on your resume?

[RickJay]

If you are told you cannot exercise the authority vested in your job, why keep doing it?

[Chronos]

Refusing orders and then getting fired sends the message “I thought I could get away with this, but the boss outsmarted me”. Refusing orders and then resigning sends the message “This decision is Serious Business, and I know there’s no way I can make this decision and still stay in this position, but it’s important enough that I’m doing it anyway”.

[Senegoid]

So basically, it comes down to a moral/ethical/conscience issue, and resigning has evolved as a sort of de-facto but unofficial ANSI-standard response?

[sevenwood]

Another advantage to resigning rather than being fired is that you run the risk of your superior telling the world “I fired him because he was an awful administrator, made a pass at my daughter, and regularly peed in the parking lot”.

[RickJay]

@Senegoid

So basically, it comes down to a moral/ethical/conscience issue, and resigning has evolved as a sort of de-facto but unofficial ANSI-standard response?

It’s not a moral issue, it’s an issue of constructive dismissal. If you’re the manager, and your boss won’t let you manage, why are you there?

I can think of a bazillion examples.

[Buck_Godot]

Come to think of it I think that Comey is the first political figure who has actually been fired in a long time. Asking people to resign is usually the way presidents let people go, its more polite. I guess that is just another example of Trumps “unconventional” way of doing things.

[Kimera757]

Trump fired Preet Bharara, an Obama-era US attorney for the Southern District of New York, as well. Trump demanded over 40 attorneys resign, but Bharara said no.

Being fired by Trump is probably not bad for the resume. In fact it might be a positive in four years.

[ElvisL1ves]

Trump got rid of *all *of the US attorneys. And has yet to nominate a single replacement.

[Tom_Tildrum]

@Buck_Godot

Come to think of it I think that Comey is the first political figure who has actually been fired in a long time. Asking people to resign is usually the way presidents let people go, its more polite. I guess that is just another example of Trumps “unconventional” way of doing things.

Sally Yates was fired rather than resigning. It happens once in a while. Obama fired Gerald Walpin. Bush fired several US Attorneys. Clinton fired the FBI director.

[Kent_Clark]

While the story is that Ruckelshaus resigned, there were accounts at the time that Nixon didn’t give him the chance – essentially saying “fire Cox or be fired.”

[Velocity]

If your boss, the POTUS, wants you to do something illegal or wrong, and you refuse, then you should stay at your post and get fired for your refusal, further cementing your innocence and his wrongdoing. “It will look bad on your resume” doesn’t really apply; at that national Watergate level, everyone knows the real reason you got fired; this isn’t like getting fired from a job at McDonald’s. You won’t look bad because people will know the circumstances of your firing.

[RTFirefly]

@kunilou

While the story is that Ruckelshaus resigned, there were accounts at the time that Nixon didn’t give him the chance – essentially saying “fire Cox or be fired.”

From the WaPo the next morning:

Richardson resigned when Mr. Nixon instructed him to fire Cox and Richardson refused. When the President then asked Ruckelshaus to dismiss Cox, he refused, White House spokesman Ronald L. Ziegler said, and he was fired. Ruckelshaus said he resigned.

Finally, the President turned to Solicitor General Robert H. Bork, who by law becomes acting Attorney General when the Attorney General and deputy attorney general are absent, and he carried out the President’s order to fire Cox. The letter from the President to Bork also said Ruckelshaus resigned.

Since Nixon’s the one who’d have to have done the firing, if Nixon and Ruckelshaus both said Ruckelshaus resigned, then Ruckelshaus resigned.

[ThisIsTheEnd]

You should get fired so you have a shot at collecting unemployment.

[Kent_Clark]

@RTFirefly

From the WaPo the next morning:
Since Nixon’s the one who’d have to have done the firing, if Nixon and Ruckelshaus both said Ruckelshaus resigned, then Ruckelshaus resigned.

Looks like you and I read that cite differently.

When the President then asked Ruckelshaus to dismiss Cox, he refused, White House spokesman Ronald L. Ziegler said, and he was fired.

At best, what we have is Nixon telling Ziegler one thing, and Bork another. In any case, a Ruckelshaus resignation was about as voluntary as Bush 43 “accepting” Donald Rumsfeld’s resignation the day after the Republicans got smashed in the 2006 midterm elections.

[RTFirefly]

@kunilou

Looks like you and I read that cite differently.
At best, what we have is Nixon telling Ziegler one thing, and Bork another.

What the Press Secretary says is simply less authoritative than a letter from the President.

And sure, as you say, it was ‘resign or be fired’ but that’s what we’re discussing here: why do they resign rather than being fired when that’s the choice?