Sen. Kelly sues DOD Sec. Hegseth, says he was punished for ‘disfavored political speech’
Sen. Mark Kelly filed a lawsuit Monday against the Pentagon and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, alleging that the Trump administration’s efforts to punish the Arizona Democrat for his participation in a video directed at U.S. troops violated the Constitution.
federal civil lawsuit The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Washington, was filed a week after Hegseth said in response to the video that his department would cut Kelly’s military retirement benefits.
Kelly’s lawyers wrote in a lawsuit filed against the U.S. Department of the Navy and its secretary, John Phelan, that the government’s actions “trampled upon the protections required by the Constitution for legislative independence.”
“It appears that never in our nation’s history has the Executive Branch imposed military sanctions on a Member of Congress for engaging in unwelcome political speech,” the attorneys wrote. he wrote.
The video at the center of the fight shows Kelly and five other congressional Democrats delivering a message to U.S. troops and members of the intelligence community.
“Our laws are clear: You can refuse illegal orders,” Kelly says in the 90-second video, which was first released on Nov. 18.
Other lawmakers, all of whom serve in the military or U.S. intelligence, each make similar statements in the video. But Kelly is the only person to have officially retired from the service, and thus the only one remaining subject to the Uniform Code of Military Justice.
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