My brother faced similar situation while working for a Govt project in University; He refused to sign and instead resigned;
"Never do anything against conscience even if the state demands it" --Einstein (b. 1879)
"Never do anything against conscience even if the state demands it" --Einstein (b. 1879)
What rubbish logic. I think we can agree that Einstein was a generally incredibly intelligent and remarkable human. That is enough of an argument to pause for 5 seconds and hear this one sentence out. Then you can discard it as you see fit.
In other words, Einstein's status is what has you listening, but the content of what is said has to stand on its own two legs and does not necessarily rely on an argument from authority.