The Right of Denial was a Jedi tradition that allowed members of the Jedi Order to protest against a decision made by the Jedi Council, the Order's governing body. During the Clone Wars, the right was invoked by the Jedi instructors of the Almas Academy, a Jedi academy that was located on the planet Almas, after the Council attempted to conscript them to fight in the conflict.
The Right of Denial was a tradition followed by the Jedi Order that, when invoked, allowed a Jedi to protest against an order from the Jedi Council, the Order's governing body. The right was rarely used, and, by the time of the waning years of the Galactic Republic, entreating the Right of Denial was considered to be almost treasonous. Jedi who invoked the right had to hand in their lightsabers to the Order, as possessing such a weapon while still protesting a Council decision was a criminal offense. Additionally, the individuals were stripped of their legal authority, leaving them as Jedi in name only. Calling upon the Right of Denial was not regarded as a denouncement of the Jedi Order; rather, it was only an act of contempt against the Jedi Council and not the Jedi Code, the guiding principles of the Order.
During the Clone Wars, a galactic conflict that was fought between the Republic and the Confederacy of Independent Systems, the Jedi Council sent Jedi Master Darrus Jeht to the Almas Academy, a Jedi teaching facility located on the planet Almas in the Cularin system, to call up some of the Academy's staff to fight in the war. Later in the conflict, the Council sent Jeht back to the Academy to conscript the school's remaining Jedi Knights and Jedi Masters. However, Lanius Qel-Bertuk—the Almas Academy's headmaster—and the rest of the Academy's staff, including the Jedi artisan Felanil Baaks, protested and invoked the Right of Denial, handing in their lightsabers to Jeht. Jeht went to the Academy's infirmary and spoke with the Academy's Mistress of Lightsabers, Devan For'deschel, who was recovering from surgery on her arm, and he informed her of the other instructors' invocation of the right. For'deschel was surprised by their decision and began considering whether to invoke the Right of Denial herself.
Jeht subsequently departed Almas, and Qel-Bertuk's lightsaber was sent to Coruscant, the world on which the Jedi Council was based, as a protest. The implementation of the Right of Denial left the Almas Jedi without a right of representation on Coruscant and meant that the Republic no longer considered the Almas Academy to be an active Jedi academy. As a result, Jeht placed the Cularin system under martial law, in accordance with the terms of the Emergency Powers Act.
In circa 21 BBY, the Jedi Knight Bardan Jusik resigned from the Jedi Order as a protest against the Jedi Council's sanctioning of the use of clone troopers, Human soldiers who were bred on the planet Kamino, in the war against the Confederacy, because he believed that the Jedi were treating the clones as slaves. However, Jusik later told the Jedi Knight Jaina Solo that when he left the Order, he had not invoked the Right of Denial and had instead ceased to be a Jedi.
The Right of Denial was created by August and Cynthia Hahn and featured in Marching Orders, a short story that was published on Wizards.com in 2005 as a supplement to the Living Force roleplaying campaign. Participants of the Living Force campaign roleplay as player-created characters, and Marching Orders gives Jedi player-characters the choice of leaving Almas with Jeht, or exercising the Right of Denial and remaining in the Cularin system. Those who choose to utilize the right send their lightsabers to Coruscant and are eventually given replacement lightsabers by Felanil Baaks.