Hegseth Appeals Ruling Blocking Discipline Of Sen. Mark Kelly Over ‘Illegal Orders’ Video
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is appealing a federal court ruling that temporarily blocked his effort to discipline Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) over a video in which Kelly and other Democratic veterans urged service members to “refuse illegal orders.”
Kelly, a retired Navy captain, filed suit last month after Hegseth moved to issue him a formal censure and pursue docking his military retirement pay. Earlier this month, U.S. District Judge Richard Leon granted a preliminary injunction preventing the punishment from moving forward, concluding that Kelly is “likely to succeed” on the merits of his constitutional claims.
Hegseth has now taken the fight to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, seeking to overturn the injunction and reinstate the disciplinary action.
Kelly responded sharply on X. “These guys don’t know when to quit,” he wrote. “A federal judge told Donald Trump and Pete Hegseth that they violated my constitutional rights and chilled the free speech of millions of retired veterans.”
“There is only one reason to appeal that ruling: to keep trampling on the free speech rights of retired veterans and silence dissent,” Kelly added. “I went to war to defend Americans’ constitutional rights and I won’t back down from this fight.”
Kelly appeared in the original video alongside Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.) and Reps. Jason Crow (D-Colo.), Maggie Goodlander (D-N.H.), Chris Deluzio (D-Pa.), and Chrissy Houlahan (D-Pa.). The group warned that President Donald Trump was “pitting our uniformed military and intelligence community professionals against American citizens” and urged service members not to carry out unlawful directives. They did not specify what “illegal orders” they anticipated.
Hegseth characterized the conduct as “seditious in nature,” and President Trump described it on Truth Social as “SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR, punishable by DEATH.”
Kelly was uniquely subject to potential military discipline because, unlike the others in the video, he is a retired service member drawing military retirement pay. Slotkin previously served in the CIA, and the four House members are not retired from the armed forces.
The Trump administration previously sought to pursue criminal charges against the six Democrats over the video but did not secure a grand jury indictment.
The case now heads to the appellate court, where judges will decide whether Hegseth can proceed with censuring Kelly and attempting to reduce his retirement compensation while the broader constitutional dispute continues to unfold.