Pete Hegseth just can’t let it go.
The Defense secretary is appealing a judge’s order blocking him from censuring Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., for participating in a video with five other Democratic lawmakers reminding service members of their duty to disobey illegal orders.
Hegseth’s determination to continue fighting Kelly in court shows how fixated he is on suppressing free speech and punishing dissent against the Pentagon. His doggedness also illustrates the Trump administration’s determination to reconceptualize the military as a politicized fighting force that shouldn’t be bound by the law.
Hegseth seems to face a steep hill in his bid to punish Kelly.
In November, six Democratic lawmakers who served either in the military or in the intelligence community released a video in which they said at various points that service members “can” or “must” disobey illegal orders and reminded them that they “swear an oath to protect and defend this Constitution.” Even though it’s true that service members swear to protect the Constitution and are only required to follow lawful orders, and even though their remarks are constitutionally protected free speech, the Trump administration responded hysterically. President Donald Trump absurdly declared the video an act of “sedition” that should be “punishable by death.”
But the Trump administration has failed so far to silence them. A Washington, D.C., grand jury declined to indict the lawmakers this month. As The Associated Press noted then, “Grand jury rejections are extraordinarily unusual, but have happened repeatedly in recent months in Washington as citizens who have heard the government’s evidence have come away underwhelmed in a number of cases.”
Separately from that failed prosecution, Hegseth has pursued a reduction of Kelly’s retirement rank. Kelly retired as a captain in the Navy, and a reduction in rank would reduce the pension he receives as a military retiree who served at least 20 years of honorable active-duty service. Kelly responded with a lawsuit, and U.S. District Judge Richard Leon ruled this month that Hegseth’s sanction violated the First Amendment and “threatened the constitutional liberties of millions of military retirees.”









