By MICHAEL KUNZELMAN
WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge agreed Thursday to temporarily block the Pentagon from punishing Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly, a former Navy pilot, for participating in a video that called on troops to resist unlawful orders.
U.S. District Judge Richard Leon ruled that Pentagon officials violated Kelly’s First Amendment free speech rights and “threatened the constitutional liberties of millions of military retirees.”
Kelly, who represents Arizona, sued in federal court to block his Jan. 5 censure from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
In November, Kelly and five other Democratic lawmakers appeared on a video in which they urged troops to uphold the Constitution and not to follow unlawful military directives from the Trump administration.
Republican President Donald Trump accused the lawmakers of sedition “punishable by DEATH” in a social media post days later.
Hegseth said Kelly’s censure was “a necessary process step” to proceedings that could result in a demotion from the senator’s retired rank of captain and subsequent reduction in retirement pay.
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