I vehemently disagree with Mr Trump's executive order...I think it's unfair, simplistically wrong-headed, dangerous from a geo-political relations standpoint, not based on actual experience or evidence, and quite possibly unlawful, at least in part

none of that however, in the light of the order not having been fully assessed across all it's parts from a constitutional perspective, in relation to the expectations which cover the duties of the US Attorney General,  would allow Ms Yates to instruct Justice Department lawyers to refrain from even attempting to draw up legal defenses for the order as part of their duties as forming the government's legal councel 

I support Ms Yates's discomfort with the executive order, but what she did was voice a political opinion, not a legal opinion, on the order's constitutionality. Ms Yates should have resigned to show her opposition to the order, not forced a firing to allow herself to become a political victim of it.