I honestly can't tell what you're saying here. What do you think is the oath he swore?
Either:
A) An officer's solemn duty to determine whether or not their orders are supporting and defending the Constitution, possibly against domestic enemies, can be rounded off to "I will obey an order from a superior officer only if I decide it makes sense"
or
B) It can't.
In the first case, my use of your language is appropriate. In the second case, your earlier comment is the source of the error, and I was simply not critical enough.
But maybe you think that an officer swears something like the following:
I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me
Which: No! They don't! That's part of the Oath of Enlistment but not the Oath of Office, which the Wikipedia page points out is missing that element. And Hering, as a Major), was an officer.
I think that the B) case is pretty obvious. In particular, because "makes sense" is a MUCH wider criterion than "supporting and defending the Constitution".
In the specific case of Hering, he was was worried about the President being (temporarily?) insane. Given that he was in no position to make a mental health diagnosis, his position essentially boiled down to saying that his perception of the situation overrides his (presumably) direct orders -- and that's not because the President suddenly became a domestic enemy and a threat to the Constitution.
It is Petrov Day again, partially thanks to Stanislaw Petrov.
http://lesswrong.com/lw/jq/926_is_petrov_day/