Mark Kelly Hits Defense Secretary Hegseth With Major Lawsuit

Senator Mark Kelly has decided enough is enough with Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and filed a lawsuit against him in federal court Monday.

Kelly sued Hegseth, the DoD, Secretary of the Navy John Phelan, and the U.S. Department of the Navy over Hegseth’s attempts to punish the Arizona senator. Hegseth has censured Kelly and moved to reduce his retirement grade and military pension after he appeared in a video message in November with other former service members in Congress advising military personnel to refuse to follow illegal orders from the Trump administration.

In his lawsuit, Kelly alleges that Hegseth and the others violated his First Amendment and due process rights, claiming that the Trump administration’s actions “trample on protections the Constitution singles out as essential to 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 disfavored political speech. Allowing that unprecedented step here would invert the constitutional structure by subordinating the Legislative Branch to executive discipline and chilling congressional oversight of the armed forces,” the lawsuit states.

Kelly noted that after President Trump accused him of committing treason and sedition, Hegseth immediately echoed those accusations and moved to punish Kelly without due process.

“The Constitution does not permit the government to announce the verdict in advance and then subject Senator Kelly or anyone else to a nominal process designed only to fulfill it,” Kelly said in the lawsuit.

Hegseth is attempting to punish a sitting member of the Senate for criticizing the president, which already goes against the Constitution and separation of powers, something Kelly highlighted in his lawsuit.

Will this lawsuit force Hegseth and Trump to see how absurd it is to punish members of Congress for their speech? At the very least, it may well embarrass the White House in federal court.

This story has been updated.