A judge has rejected Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s attempt to retaliate against former Navy captain and astronaut Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), who angered the Pentagon chief when he reminded service members that they do not have to carry out illegal orders.
U.S. District Judge Richard Leon of the District of Columbia wrote Thursday that Hegseth’s efforts to demote Kelly and revoke his veterans’ benefits “tramples on Senator Kelly’s First Amendment freedoms and threatens the constitutional liberties of millions of veterans.”
“Secretary Hegseth relies on the established principle that service members enjoy weaker First Amendment protections given the fundamental duties of obedience and discipline in the armed forces. Unfortunately for Secretary Hegseth, no court has extended these principles to retired service members, let alone retired service members who serve in Congress and exercise oversight responsibilities over the military,” wrote Leon, an appointee of former President George W. Bush. “This court would not be the first to do so!”
Leon quoted Bob Dylan’s hit song (and the rolling stones The 187th greatest song of all time) “Underground Homesick Blues”.
“After all, as Bob Dylan famously said, ‘You don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows.’ To say the least, our retired veterans deserve more respect from our government than our Constitution requires of them!” the judge wrote.
Late last year, amid the Trump administration’s bombing of Caribbean ships, Hegseth moved to strip the senator of some of his military retirement benefits and rank him below Kelly, joining other veteran members of Congress in encouraging service members to abide by their oaths and “reject unlawful orders.”
Kelly, who countersued Hegseth in January, wrote in a statement to
“If Pete Hegseth, the most unqualified secretary of defense in our country’s history, thinks he can intimidate me by censuring me or threatening to demote or prosecute me, he still doesn’t get it. I will do everything in my power to fight that – not for myself, but to send a message that Pete Hegseth and Donald Trump do not have the right to dictate what Americans in this country say about their government,” Kelly added.
All in all, Judge Leon seemed to agree with this sentiment and used some decidedly colorful language when putting it to paper. Judge calls Defense Department case against Kelly ‘horse hair’! and “Anemia!”
“Instead of seeking to limit the First Amendment freedoms of retired service members, Secretary Hegseth and his fellow defendants should reflect on and appreciate the wisdom and expertise that retired service members have brought to the public discussion and debate of our nation’s military issues over the past 250 years,” Leon wrote. “Hopefully this injunction will go some way to assisting the Department of Defense in correcting these problematic practices.”
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