Congressional Democrats who called on US service members to refuse illegal orders in a viral video urged a federal appeals court to preserve military veterans’ free speech rights, throwing their support behind an Arizona senator in his lawsuit against the Pentagon.
The five lawmakers urged the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit in a friend-of-the-court brief Wednesday to uphold a ruling that blocked Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth from penalizing Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), a former US Navy officer, for participating in the video with his colleagues.
Accepting the Trump administration’s argument in favor of restricting Kelly’s speech would ...