Appeals court questions Hegseth bid to punish Mark Kelly
A federal appeals court in Washington heard arguments Thursday over whether the Trump administration can punish mark kelly for remarks urging service members to refuse unlawful orders. A three-judge panel of the US court of appeals for the District of Columbia circuit appeared skeptical of the effort.
Kelly, a Democratic US senator and retired navy captain from Arizona, challenged Pete Hegseth’s move after a November 2025 video that included the line, “Our laws are clear: you can refuse illegal orders.” He spoke outside the courthouse after the hearing and said, “This was a day in court not just for me, but for the first amendment rights of millions of us.”
Florence Pan Questions Kelly Case
During the hearing, judge Florence Pan challenged the government’s theory. She said, “These are people who serve their country. Many of them put their lives on the line,” and asked, “You’re saying that they have to give up their retired status in order to say something that is a textbook example – taught at West Point and the Naval Academy – that you can disobey illegal orders?”
John Bailey, arguing for the government, said the case involved “a pattern and totality of conduct, not any one line or any one statement taken in isolation.” Kelly’s lawyer, Benjamin Mizer, called the sanctions “textbook retaliation against disfavored speech” and said, “The censure letter says on its face that it’s targeting the senator for his public statements.”
January Lawsuit, February Order
Kelly sued the Pentagon in January after it moved to sanction him over the video. In February, US district judge Richard Leon issued a preliminary injunction blocking the administration from pursuing its campaign to censure him.
The dispute turns on whether retired military officers can be punished for public speech directed at service members. Kelly’s side says the Pentagon’s action was retaliatory and violated the First Amendment, while the government argues retired officers remain part of the armed forces, can be recalled to active duty, and can influence service members.
The panel’s skepticism leaves the Pentagon’s effort under pressure, with the case now moving beyond the district court ruling that already stopped the censure campaign.
