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War Secretary Pete Hegseth said Thursday he will appeal a federal judge’s ruling that blocked him from pursuing disciplinary action against Mark Kelly, a Navy veteran and Democratic senator from Arizona, over Kelly’s appearance in a video the administration described as “seditious.”
The judge ruled earlier Thursday that Kelly was likely to succeed in his argument that the administration violated his First Amendment rights.
According to the court’s decision, the administration had “trampled on Senator Kelly’s First Amendment freedoms and threatened the constitutional liberties of millions of military retirees.”
Hegseth responded in a post on X, writing, “This will be immediately appealed. Sedition is sedition, ‘Captain.’”
Kelly sued after Hegseth sought to initiate disciplinary action tied to a video released last year. In the video, Kelly appeared with a group of Democratic lawmakers who are veterans or former members of the intelligence community.
The group urged current military and federal officials not to carry out orders they believed were illegal, though they did not cite specific orders.
Other lawmakers featured in the roughly 90-second video included Democratic Sen. Elissa Slotkin of Michigan, Colorado Rep. Jason Crow, Pennsylvania Rep. Chris Deluzio, New Hampshire Rep. Maggie Goodlander and Pennsylvania Rep. Chrissy Houlahan.
President Donald Trump previously denounced the video as “SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR, punishable by DEATH!”
Kelly’s statement noted, “Pete Hegseth is coming after what I earned through my twenty-five years of military service, in violation of my rights as an American, as a retired veteran.”
He added, “His unconstitutional crusade against me sends a chilling message to every retired member of the military: if you speak out and say something that the President or Secretary of Defense doesn’t like, you will be censured, threatened with demotion, or even prosecuted.”
The ruling comes after the Justice Department failed earlier this month to secure an indictment from a federal grand jury against those involved in the video. The administration’s appeal is expected to move the case to a higher court while the legal dispute over the limits of political speech and military-related discipline continues.