It sure seems like federal judges are running our country these days, not the Legislative or Executive Branches, which is 180 degrees opposite of what our founders established and envisioned.
A federal judge determined on Thursday that the Pentagon is not allowed to reduce Arizona Senator Mark Kelly’s salary due to the “Seditious Six” incident, where Kelly and five other Democratic senators advised National Guardsmen against obeying “illegal orders.” The video in question did not specify any particular illegal orders, but the Trump administration viewed the comments as a move by the Democrats to incite disobedience among the National Guard, which had been deployed to various major U.S. cities to assist in addressing increasing crime rates.
You be the judge – sedition?
U.S. District Judge Richard J. Leon, appointed by George W. Bush, determined that the effort to reduce Senator Kelly’s salary probably infringed upon his First Amendment rights.
“Secretary Hegseth relies on the well-established doctrine that military servicemembers enjoy less vigorous First Amendment protections given the fundamental obligation for obedience and discipline in the armed forces,” Judge Leon wrote. “Unfortunately for Secretary Hegseth, no court has ever extended those principles to retired servicemembers, much less a retired servicemember serving in Congress and exercising oversight responsibility over the military. This Court will not be the first to do so!”
“This Court has all it needs to conclude that Defendants have trampled on Senator Kelly’s First Amendment freedoms and threatened the constitutional liberties of millions of military retirees. After all, as Bob Dylan famously said, ‘You don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows,’” Leon continued. “To say the least, our retired veterans deserve more respect from their Government, and our Constitution demands they receive it!”
“Senator Kelly’s First Amendment claim is not only justiciable; he is likely to succeed on the merits. He has also shown irreparable harm, and the balance of the equities fall decidedly in his favor,” the judge added.
In early January, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth vowed to bring Sen. Kelly to justice, writing on X:
Six weeks ago, Senator Mark Kelly — and five other members of Congress — released a reckless and seditious video that was clearly intended to undermine good order and military discipline. As a retired Navy Captain who is still receiving a military pension, Captain Kelly knows he is still accountable to military justice. And the Department of War — and the American people — expect justice.
Therefore, in response to Senator Mark Kelly’s seditious statements — and his pattern of reckless misconduct — the Department of War is taking administrative action against Captain Mark E. Kelly, USN (Ret). The department has initiated retirement grade determination proceedings under 10 U.S.C. § 1370(f), with reduction in his retired grade resulting in a corresponding reduction in retired pay.
It’s not clear whether the ruling will be appealed, but frankly, it should be. We all know what Kelly and the other five Democratic bozos were trying to do: Incite serving military members who simply didn’t agree with the administration’s policies to claim ‘that’s an illegal order!’ and disobey it.
That’s textbook sedition, regardless of what this ‘judge’ says.