Ah, but what of Jefferson's "higher obligation" than the "written law"?

"I have a higher obligation, Counselor," he told her.

Now I call upon you to confer upon me the highest obligation in your power.

Under such circumstances, the highest obligation of American diplomacy is to speak plainly.

'I have no higher obligation than to safeguard the lives of American citizens,' he said on television.

When an enemy points a pistol and says he will pull the trigger, there is no high moral obligation to wait until he does.

"Do we in medicine have a higher obligation to treat the sick than do passersby on the street?"

Yes, of course you're right, I do have a higher obligation.

Sometimes mere patriotism had to give way to higher obligations.

Unless, of course, he had a higher obligation to truth and his endorsement contracts.