Sen. Kelly sues DOD Sec. Hegseth, says he was punished for 'disfavored political speech'

[LetMyPeopleVote]

Source: CNBC

Sen. Mark Kelly on Monday sued the Pentagon and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, alleging the Trump administration’s efforts to punish the Democratic senator for his participation in a video to U.S. troops violate the Constitution.

The federal civil lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Washington was filed one week after Hegseth said his department would cut Kelly’s military retirement pay in response to the video.

The government’s actions “trample on protections the Constitution singles out as essential to legislative independence,” Kelly’s lawyers wrote in the lawsuit, which was also filed against the U.S. Navy Department and its secretary, John Phelan.

“It appears that never in our nation’s history has the Executive Branch imposed military sanctions on a Member of Congress for engaging in disfavored political speech,” the lawyers wrote.

Read more: https://www.cnbc.com/2026/01/12/kelly-hegseth-lawsuit-video-pentagon.html?__source=iosappshare%7Ccom.apple.UIKit.activity.PostToTwitter

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Link to tweet

[BumRushDaShow]

1. Was about to hit *post*

[LetMyPeopleVote]

7. LOL

This happens so rarely

Thank you for your breaking news posts. They are appreciated

[BumRushDaShow]

8. Thank YOU for all the context and discussion from MaddowBlog and other analysts

It's definitely helpful to get a fuller idea of the stories!!!

I have a bunch of news site apps on my iPad and iPhone and since I got an Apple watch a couple years ago, those breaking news notifications get sent to that too. with bings and boops and vibrations and all kinds of noise.

And as I was posting this, AP just sent a breaking news banner on this story.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

2. This lawsuit will be fun reading

Link to tweet

[LetMyPeopleVote]

3. Breaking news on MSNOW

BREAKING: Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ) is suing Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. @lawofruby.bsky.social reports on this developing story.

— MS NOW (@ms.now) 2026-01-12T18:35:41.855Z

[LetMyPeopleVote]

4. Statement from Senator Kelly

Link to tweet

[LetMyPeopleVote]

9. Sen. Mark Kelly releases statement after SUING Pete Hegseth and the Dept. of Defense

Here is a BlueSky version of this statement

JUST IN: Sen. Mark Kelly releases statement after SUING Pete Hegseth and the Dept. of Defense

— MeidasTouch (@meidastouch.com) 2026-01-12T19:12:56.164Z

[Bayard]

5. Slam dunk!

[The Grand Illuminist]

6. If it is what I think it is...

Hegseth has no authority in cutting his pention. It takes a millitary tribunal to render that ruling.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

10. Hegseth is attacking Senator Kelly for statements he has also made and statement in UCMJ

If the administration intends to investigate Democratic veterans in Congress, it should prepare equal treatment for members of the White House Cabinet.

In prior remarks, Hegseth and Bondi also said troops must disobey illegal orders - MS NOW

apple.news/AtPlYxgM_Q1S...

— (@oc88.bsky.social) 2025-12-09T17:49:00.527Z

https://www.ms.now/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/in-prior-remarks-hegseth-and-bondi-also-said-troops-must-disobey-illegal-orders

CNN reported last week, for example, that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who’s helped advance the partisan offensive against the Democratic veterans, delivered remarks in 2016 explaining that U.S. military personnel “won’t follow unlawful orders from their commander in chief” and described the refusal of illegal commands as a part of the military’s ethos and standards.

CNN also found that, as Election Day 2016 drew closer, the former Fox News host told viewers that service members are “not going to follow illegal orders.”

That is to say, eight years ago, the future Pentagon chief delivered the same message he and Trump are now condemning.

Evidently, Hegseth is not alone. The New York Times reported:

Pam Bondi, the attorney general, said the same thing as the [Democratic] lawmakers last year in a friend-of-the-court brief in the Supreme Court as a lawyer for the America First Policy Institute, a conservative think tank that represented three former military leaders.

In the legal brief, which is available online through the high court’s website, Bondi wrote, “Military officers are required not to carry out unlawful orders.” The Florida Republican added, “The military would not carry out a patently unlawful order from the president to kill nonmilitary targets. Indeed, service members are required not to do so.”

I’m going to go out on a limb and say that the Trump administration won’t launch sedition investigations into the incumbent president’s defense secretary and attorney general, but if officials continue to pursue Democratic veterans in Congress, they should probably prepare an answer to a straightforward question: “Why aren’t you also pursuing cases against the president’s defense secretary and attorney general?”

Pete Hegseth says he’s going to court-martial me for saying the same exact thing he said 9 years ago. What changed for Pete? Well to start, he spends all day thinking about how he can suck up to Trump. When Trump says jump, he says how high.

— Captain Mark Kelly (@captmarkkelly.bsky.social) 2025-12-03T03:01:59.534Z

[ImmigrantsWGTJD]

13. We can't let them kill Due Process or

we don't have a Constitution any more

[bluestarone]

11. So, if Hegseth drops this,can

Kelly's lawsuit continue for other damages? (reputation destruction type)

[LetMyPeopleVote]

12. Sen. Mark Kelly sues Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth over efforts to reduce his military retirement rank

Hegseth said last week that the Pentagon was taking steps to downgrade Kelly’s military retirement rank and pay after the senator urged service members not to follow illegal orders.

Sen. Mark Kelly sues Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth over efforts to reduce his military retirement rank

www.nbcnews.com/politics/pol...

— Ryan J. Reilly “paints a vivid and urgent portrait of… disarray” (@ryanjreilly.com) 2026-01-12T19:15:32.906Z

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/sen-mark-kelly-sues-defense-secretary-pete-hegseth-efforts-reduce-mili-rcna253658

Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., filed a lawsuit Monday against Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and the Pentagon, charging their effort to censure and demote him is "unlawful and unconstitutional."

Hegseth said last week that the Pentagon was taking steps to downgrade Kelly’s military retirement rank and pay because of his “seditious statements” — a reference to a video he and other retired service members released that urged members of the military not to comply with illegal orders.

The suit charges Hegseth's actions violate Kelly's First Amendment rights, as well as the Speech and Debate clause of the Constitution, which grants immunity to lawmakers for official acts.

"It appears that never in our nation’s history has the Executive Branch imposed military sanctions on a Member of Congress for engaging in disfavored political speech," says the suit, which seeks a court order declaring Hegseth's actions to be unlawful.

“Allowing Defendants to punish a Senator through military proceedings for his political speech erodes the separation of powers and gives the Executive a power over legislators that the Constitution does not contemplate,” the filing says......

"And by that logic, a 100-year-old World War II veteran could be hauled in and censured or court-martialed because he says something that Pete Hegseth disagrees with," he added.