@H. Roosevelt
Here's the issue with your point. This:
"Milton can very much be seen as a mentor to Ross, retroactively adding another layer to Ross's character in that he has a predecessor whose ideals he drew from and took further and mistakes he learned from."
Is your interpretation.
Whether Ross always possessed his mentality or picked it up from Milton is completely unknown.
Ross could've gotten more extreme after Milton's death or he could've already been an extremist who was held back by Milton, with his death allowing Ross to "exercise his authority" so to speak. Both are equally valid interpretations.
We don't know. You certainly don't know, as you only described Ross's personality in the first game. You couldn't tell me if Ross had the same "above the law" mentality as he does in the first game.