Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., said on Monday that his lawsuit against Defense Secretary Pete Hegeseth and the Pentagon is about more than just his specific case.
In an interview on MS NOW’s “The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell,” the former Navy pilot said he’s fighting Hegseth’s effort to censure him and demote his military rank because he wants to protect other veterans’ rights to speak out freely against the government without fear of repercussion.
“This is much bigger than me,” Kelly said. “What I really worry about are the other veterans out there, you know, that don’t have a platform like I do, don’t have the right to speak on the Senate floor. Where are they going to be with this administration if they decide to speak out?”
“That’s really the reason for my action today,” the Arizona Democrat continued. “I had to file this lawsuit because I need to be standing up for all Americans, not just myself.”
Kelly filed a lawsuit Monday to push back on the Pentagon’s effort to penalize him for participating in a video with fellow Democrats with intelligence or military backgrounds in which they told servicemembers, “Our laws are clear: You can refuse illegal orders… You must refuse illegal orders.”
They did not specify at the time which orders they thought were illegal, but, in the complaint, Kelly points to President Trump’s deployment of National Guard members to Democrat-run cities and his lethal strikes against boats allegedly smuggling drugs.
The lawsuit argues the Pentagon’s bid to reduce his retirement rank and military pension would “trample on protections” the Constitution lays out for legislative independence, contending the executive branch has never before sought to impose military sanctions on a U.S. lawmaker for engaging in “disfavored political speech.”
Kelly asked a federal judge to block the efforts and declare them unlawful to “preserve the status of a coequal Congress and an apolitical military.”
“The First Amendment forbids the government and its officials from punishing disfavored expression or retaliating against protected speech,” the complaint reads. “That prohibition applies with particular force to legislators speaking on matters of public policy.”
In the interview late Monday, Kelly pointed to his lengthy military service as he reiterated his pledge not to back down from the fight.
“I told these guys, I told Donald Trump, and I told Pete Hegseth that I’m not backing down. I’m not going away,” the senator said. “This is much bigger than me.”
“I flew dozens of combat missions over Iraq and Kuwait, got shot at, nearly shot down multiple times. I flew in space on the space shuttle four times,” he continued. “I’ve served this country for 25 years.”
Kelly added, “I did not expect that after all of that service and then continuing my service in the United States Senate, that I would one day have to sue the secretary of Defense for violating my constitutional rights, my rights of freedom of speech, but also due process and separation of powers rights.”