{"id":419195,"date":"2026-02-13T11:43:39","date_gmt":"2026-02-13T17:43:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/?p=419195"},"modified":"2026-04-09T20:35:27","modified_gmt":"2026-04-10T01:35:27","slug":"cronkite-news-judge-sides-with-democratic-lawmaker-in-dispute-with-trump-administration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/2026\/02\/13\/cronkite-news-judge-sides-with-democratic-lawmaker-in-dispute-with-trump-administration\/","title":{"rendered":"Cronkite News: Judge sides with Democratic lawmaker in dispute with Trump administration"},"content":{"rendered":" <a href=\"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/2024\/08\/05\/cronkite-news-kamala-harris-set-to-pick-vice-presidential-running-mate\/markkelly-2\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-39403\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1415\" data-attachment-id=\"39403\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/2024\/08\/05\/cronkite-news-kamala-harris-set-to-pick-vice-presidential-running-mate\/markkelly-2\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/05\/markkelly.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"2000,1415\" data-comments-opened=\"0\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;2.8&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;Canon EOS 70D&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;This is Mark Kelly\\u2019s first time running for public office. His wife, Gabby Giffords, represented Arizona&#039;s 8th congressional district for five years. (Photo by Meg Potter\/Cronkite News)&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;1551023371&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;42&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;125&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0.0005&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"Mark Kelly\" data-image-description=\"&lt;p&gt;Mark Kelly&lt;\/p&gt;\n\" data-image-caption=\"&lt;p&gt;Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Arizona). Photo by Meg Potter \/ Cronkite News&lt;\/p&gt;\n\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/05\/markkelly.jpg\" src=\"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/05\/markkelly.jpg\" alt=\"Mark Kelly\"  class=\"size-full wp-image-39403\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"figure-caption\"> Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Arizona). Photo by Meg Potter \/ Cronkite News<\/figcaption>\r\n<div class=\"h3-responsive font-weight-bold\">Judge blocks demotion of Sen. Mark Kelly, rebukes Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth for trying<\/div>\r\n<div class=\"date\">Friday, February 13, 2026<\/div>\r\n<div class=\"byline\">By Alysa Horton, Cronkite News <\/div>\r\n<DIV class=source>Cronkite News<\/DIV>\r\n<DIV class=source-website><A \r\nhref=\"https:\/\/cronkitenews.azpbs.org\/\">cronkitenews.azpbs.org<\/A><\/DIV>\r\n<P><\/P>\r\n<STRONG>For more stories from Cronkite News, visit <A href=\"https:\/\/cronkitenews.azpbs.org\/?utm_source=referral&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_campaign=client\">cronkitenews.azpbs.org<\/A>.<\/STRONG>\r\n<p><\/p>\r\n<p>WASHINGTON &#8212; A federal judge ruled Thursday that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth cannot demote Sen. Mark Kelly, a retired Navy captain, for urging active duty personnel to refuse unlawful orders &#8212; a basic tenet of military law.<\/p>\r\n<p>U.S. District Judge Richard Leon reprimanded Hegseth for trying to censure the Arizona senator, a Democrat whose 25-year Navy career included dozens of combat missions and four trips to space as an astronaut.<\/p>\r\n<p>\u201cIf legislators do not feel free to express their views and the views of their constituents without fear of reprisal by the Executive, our representative system of Government cannot function!\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/ecf.dcd.uscourts.gov\/cgi-bin\/show_public_doc?2026cv0081-37\">wrote the judge,<\/a> who was named to the bench by President George W. Bush, a Republican.<\/p>\r\n<p>It was the Trump administration&#8217;s second setback in two days in its effort to punish Kelly.<\/p>\r\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed alignright is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\">\r\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\r\n<div class=\"embed-twitter\"><blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Today a federal court made clear Pete Hegseth violated the Constitution when he tried to punish me for something I said.<br><br>This is a critical moment to show this administration they can&#39;t keep undermining Americans&#39; rights.<br><br>I also know this might not be over yet, because Trump\u2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/9dRe9pmeCd\">pic.twitter.com\/9dRe9pmeCd<\/a><\/p>&mdash; Senator Mark Kelly (@SenMarkKelly) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SenMarkKelly\/status\/2022008602194526370?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">February 12, 2026<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/figure>\r\n<p>On Tuesday, a <a href=\"https:\/\/cronkitenews.azpbs.org\/2026\/02\/11\/kelly-grand-jury-sedition-video-trump\/\">federal grand jury declined to indict Kelly<\/a> and five other lawmakers  &#8212; four military veterans and one former CIA analyst, all Democrats &#8212; who posted <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/shorts\/Fk9Gh3qwW4I\">a video<\/a> in November reminding service members that they can and should refuse illegal orders.<\/p>\r\n<p>The video left President Donald Trump irate. On his Truth Social platform, he accused them of \u201cSEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR, punishable by DEATH!\u201d and said they should be \u201cARRESTED AND PUT ON TRIAL.\u201d<\/p>\r\n<p>It is unclear what criminal charges Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, sought. It is extremely unusual for a grand jury to reject a request for an indictment, in part because in the secret process, jurors hear only from prosecutors.<\/p>\r\n<p>\u201cThis case was never just about me. This administration was sending a message to millions of retired veterans that they too can be censured or demoted just for speaking out,\u201d Kelly said in a video posted shortly after Thursday&#8217;s ruling was issued.<\/p>\r\n<p>On January 5, Hegseth announced that Kelly would be censured and emoted for \u201cseditious statements\u201d and a \u201cpattern of reckless misconduct.&#8221; Kelly went to court a week later.<\/p>\r\n<p>Thursday\u2019s ruling came on the senator\u2019s request for an injunction to block the censure as the case plays out.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed alignright is-type-wp-embed is-provider-cronkite-news wp-block-embed-cronkite-news\">\r\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\r\n<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"HA1ocMYTPE\"><a href=\"https:\/\/cronkitenews.azpbs.org\/2026\/02\/11\/kelly-grand-jury-sedition-video-trump\/\">Cleared by grand jury for video Trump called sedition, Kelly and Slotkin slam effort to silence them<\/a><\/blockquote><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" style=\"position: absolute; visibility: hidden;\" title=\"&#8220;Cleared by grand jury for video Trump called sedition, Kelly and Slotkin slam effort to silence them&#8221; &#8212; Cronkite News\" src=\"https:\/\/cronkitenews.azpbs.org\/2026\/02\/11\/kelly-grand-jury-sedition-video-trump\/embed\/#?secret=X5Y8okblGX#?secret=HA1ocMYTPE\" data-secret=\"HA1ocMYTPE\" width=\"500\" height=\"282\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/figure>\r\n<p>At a February 3 hearing, the Justice Department argued that as a military retiree, Kelly doesn&#8217;t have the same First Amendment rights as other civilians. But the Justice Department\u2019s lawyer acknowledged that he could find no other instance of a retiree being punished for statements made after leaving active duty.<\/p>\r\n<p>\u201cSecretary Hegseth relies on the well-established doctrine that military servicemembers enjoy less vigorous First Amendment protections given the fundamental obligation for obedience and discipline in the armed forces,\u201d the judge wrote Thursday.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n<p>\u00a0\u201cUnfortunately for Secretary Hegseth, no court has ever extended those principles to retired servicemembers, much less a retired servicemember serving in Congress and exercising oversight responsibility over the military. This Court will not be the first to do so!\u201d he added.<\/p>\r\n<p>The video stemmed from criticism over National Guard deployments into U.S. cities and deadly strikes in the Caribbean on purported drug smugglers. \u201cOur laws are clear,\u201d Kelly says into the camera. \u201cYou can refuse illegal orders.\u201d<\/p>\r\n<p>Kelly retired from the Navy in 2011. None of the others in the video served long enough to formally retire.<\/p>\r\n<p>The senator has warned that if his censure were allowed, even veterans in their 80s and 90s could face punishment for criticizing the president.<\/p>\r\n<p>In a friend of the court brief, 39 retired officers, mostly admirals and generals \u2013 plus former secretaries of the Navy and Army, both appointed by Democratic presidents \u2013 echoed the concern about military retirees\u2019 free speech rights.<\/p>\r\n<p>The \u201cattempts to punish\u201d the senator risks future \u201cveteran participation in public discourse,\u201d they warned the court.<\/p>\r\n<p>The judge agreed.<\/p>\r\n<p>\u201cSpeech \u2018on matters of public concern\u2019 lies at the core of First Amendment protection,\u201d he wrote in his ruling.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n<p>And while retired servicemembers may be called to active duty, he wrote, they are still civilians whose opinions on whether a military operation is lawful \u201cdoes not threaten `obedience, unity, commitment, and esprit de corps\u2019 in the same way as speech from active-duty soldiers.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\r\n<p>Federal lawmakers are also protected by the \u201cSpeech or Debate\u201d clause of the Constitution, which gives them immunity from prosecution for legislative acts. Kelly is a member of the Senate Armed Services committee.<\/p>\r\n<div class=row><div class=col-7>\r\n<a href=\"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/2026\/02\/04\/cronkite-news-judge-questions-targeting-of-democratic-lawmaker\/markkelly-4\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-403818\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1080\" height=\"1920\" data-attachment-id=\"403818\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/2026\/02\/04\/cronkite-news-judge-questions-targeting-of-democratic-lawmaker\/markkelly-4\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/04\/MarkKelly.png\" data-orig-size=\"1080,1920\" data-comments-opened=\"0\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"&amp;#8216;You can refuse illegal orders&amp;#8217;\" data-image-description=\"&lt;p&gt;&amp;#8216;You can refuse illegal orders&amp;#8217;&lt;\/p&gt;\n\" data-image-caption=\"&lt;p&gt;Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Arizona), who served as a captain in the Navy, urged military personnel to \u201crefuse illegal orders\u201d in a November 18, 2025, video posted with five other Democratic lawmakers who served in uniform or in U.S. intelligence agencies. Image: &lt;a href=https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/shorts\/Fk9Gh3qwW4I&gt;youtube.com\/shorts\/Fk9Gh3qwW4I&lt;\/a&gt;&lt;\/p&gt;\n\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/04\/MarkKelly.png\" src=\"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/04\/MarkKelly.png\" alt=\"&#039;You can refuse illegal orders&#039;\"  class=\"size-full wp-image-403818\" \/><\/a><\/div>\r\n<div class=\"col-5 align-self-end\"><figcaption class=\"figure-caption\"> Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Arizona), who served as a captain in the Navy, urged military personnel to \u201crefuse illegal orders\u201d in a November 18, 2025, video posted with five other Democratic lawmakers who served in uniform or in U.S. intelligence agencies. Image: <a href=https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/shorts\/Fk9Gh3qwW4I>youtube.com\/shorts\/Fk9Gh3qwW4I<\/a><\/figcaption><\/div><\/div>\r\n<P><\/P>\r\n<p>Few Republicans have denounced the effort to prosecute their colleagues.<\/p>\r\n<p>After the grand jury vindication, Kelly and Sen. Elissa Slotkin of Michigan, the former CIA analyst in the group, challenged GOP colleagues to speak out.<\/p>\r\n<p>\u00a0\u201cWhere are they as Donald Trump tries to throw senators and representatives in jail for what they say?\u201d Kelly said Wednesday.<\/p>\r\n<p>\u201cTwenty anonymous Americans we will never meet, who made up that grand jury, told us more about the values of America than Jeanine Pirro or (Attorney General) Pam Bondi or certainly this president,\u201d Slotkin said. \u201cThe intimidation was the point, to get other people beyond us to think twice about speaking out.\u201d<\/p>\r\n<p>The others in the video were Reps. Jason Crow of Colorado, a former Army Ranger; Maggie Goodlander of New Hampshire, a former Navy reservist; and Pennsylvanians Chrissy Houlahan, a former Air Force officer, and Chris Deluzio, a Navy veteran.<\/p>\r\n<p>In granting the injunction, the judge noted that a censure would effectively be irreversible, because   Hegseth would have final say if Kelly appeals the demotion.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n<p>\u201cRather than trying to shrink the First Amendment liberties of retired servicemembers,\u201d the judge wrote, \u201cSecretary Hegseth and his fellow Defendants might reflect and be grateful for the wisdom and expertise that retired servicemembers have brought to public discussions and debate on military matters in our Nation over the past 250 years.\u201d<\/p><p><\/p>\r\n<HR>\r\n<p>This <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/cronkitenews.azpbs.org\/2026\/02\/12\/judge-blocks-demote-kelly-hegseth\/\">article<\/a> first appeared on <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/cronkitenews.azpbs.org\">Cronkite News<\/a> and is republished here under a <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nd\/4.0\/\">Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License<\/a>.<\/p><HR>\r\n<img decoding=\"async\" id=\"republication-tracker-tool-source\" src=\"https:\/\/cronkitenews.azpbs.org\/?republication-pixel=true&#038;post=99813\" style=\"width:1px;height:1px;\"><script> PARSELY = { autotrack: false, onload: function() { PARSELY.beacon.trackPageView({ url: \"https:\/\/cronkitenews.azpbs.org\/2026\/02\/12\/judge-blocks-demote-kelly-hegseth\/\", urlref: window.location.href }); } } <\/script> <script id=\"parsely-cfg\" src=\"\/\/cdn.parsely.com\/keys\/cronkitenews.azpbs.org\/p.js\"><\/script>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A federal judge ruled that Secretary of War Pete Hegseth cannot demote Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Arizona) over comments made about the U.S. military.","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":39403,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_vp_format_video_url":"","_vp_image_focal_point":[],"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,1,14],"tags":[5366,42,7145,7144,400,46,346,698,94,362,75,7146,48,7141,7140,72,7142,405,523,7143,1045,5689,85,91,422],"class_list":["post-419195","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-law","category-national","category-politics","tag-119th","tag-arizona","tag-chris-deluzio","tag-chrissy-houlahan","tag-colorado","tag-cronkite-news","tag-dc","tag-defense","tag-democrats","tag-doj","tag-donald-trump","tag-elissa-slotkin","tag-house","tag-jason-crow","tag-jeanine-pirro","tag-judiciary","tag-maggie-goodlander","tag-mark-kelly","tag-michigan","tag-new-hampshire","tag-pennsylvania","tag-pete-hegseth","tag-republicans","tag-senate","tag-us-attorneys","no-wpautop"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/05\/markkelly.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pcoJ7g-1L3d","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/419195","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=419195"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/419195\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":419216,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/419195\/revisions\/419216"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39403"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=419195"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=419195"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=419195"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}