On the left are Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth.
Reuters
A federal judge on Thursday temporarily blocked Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth from formally censuring Sen. Mark Kelly over the Arizona Democrat’s participation in a video reminding U.S. military personnel of their right to refuse illegal orders.
Judge Rich Leon’s order in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., temporarily blocks Hegseth from reducing Kelly’s U.S. Navy rank and pay as punishment for his role in the video.
Kelly retired from the Navy as a captain.
The order came two days after news broke that Mr. Kelly and Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.) were unsuccessfully lobbied to have a federal grand jury indict them on criminal charges related to their participation in a video released with four other members of Congress in November.
In a scathing opinion explaining his ruling, Leon said that when Hegseth tried to punish Kelly for his public comments as a lawmaker, he relied on “the well-established doctrine that military personnel enjoy less powerful First Amendment protections given the fundamental obligations of obedience and discipline in the military.”
“Unfortunately for Secretary Hegseth, no court has ever applied these principles to veterans, much less veterans who serve in Congress and exercise oversight responsibilities over the military,” Leon wrote.
“It’s not the first time this court has done something like that!”
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