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Posted on 02/12/2026 12:33:06 PM PST by E. Pluribus Unum
A federal judge on Thursday blocked the Pentagon from downgrading the military retirement rank and pay of Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona, finding that the government had "trampled on Senator Kelly's First Amendment freedoms."
A retired Navy captain, Kelly drew the Trump administration's ire after he and five other Democratic lawmakers posted a video urging members of the military to "refuse illegal orders."
U.S. District Judge Richard Leon's order prohibits the Defense Department and the Trump administration from taking any adverse action against Kelly to reduce his retirement rank and pay.
"This Court has all it needs to conclude that Defendants have trampled on Senator Kelly's First Amendment freedoms and threatened the constitutional liberties of millions of military retirees," Leon wrote. "After all, as Bob Dylan famously said, 'You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows.'"
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth wrote on social media that the ruling would be "immediately appealed."
Leon's ruling comes a month after Kelly sued Hegseth, arguing that he was the target of "extreme rhetoric and punitive retribution" by the Trump administration.
Kelly asked Leon to set aside Hegseth's recent moves to demote him and cut his military pension, and to block the enforcement of any punishment against him.
Leon's decision came two days after federal prosecutors in U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro's office failed to secure an indictment against Kelly and the other Democratic lawmakers who appeared in the video. Prosecutors had hoped to charge them with violating a federal law that makes it a crime to counsel or cause "insubordination, disloyalty, mutiny, or reversal of duty" by military members, sources previously told CBS News.
Kelly and his colleagues came under fierce criticism by the Trump administration after they posted the video in November...
(Excerpt) Read more at cbsnews.com ...
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Over reach ... Again ... This judge (He is not even JAG) has no power over the military. Disregard and proceed.
I’m pretty sure this is a UCMJ issue, not one for a federal judge to meddle with.
Also, why give this ANY credibility with the appeal? If I declared something would you appeal my decision? I have no power and neither does this judge. Ignore him.
Courts Marshall
LOL!!! THESE IDIOT seditious “judges” actually think THEY are in charge!
Exactly, so why haven’t they started those proceedings???
“No standing” in a non-military court. This meddling has to stop somehow...
So. What about the separation of powers…
how can a judge overrule the pentagon on pentagon matters.
Judge Richard Leon is deluded in his thinking the United States has a “Secretary of Defense”. In reality (which Judge Leon is not involved) we have a Secretary of War.
He can just ignore the judge and say “judges don’t rule on military code. They have no jurisdiction.”
Since when can a civilian judge supersede the UCMJ?
The military has its own court system. Unless it does something outrageous, federal courts aren’t needed. Ex-military Mr. Kelly was trying to persuade military personnel to join him in committing sedition and should face a military court.
The people in authority and responsibility in this country have a duty to this country and it’s Law and Order to unequivocally slap these judges down.
Who is Marshall?
RETIRED military isn't exactly "ex" military.
They can’t
We have a lot of activists judges trying to expand their authority
This judge has no standing in the matter and Kelly is being hit with an NJP
The DOJ should just up the ante with a Courts Martial on the guy
This was inevitable. It was a loser legally from the start.
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