U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was condemned on Friday by a non-governmental group of military justice experts who said he had committed the “worst-case scenario.”
NIMJ, which bills itself as “the only non-governmental organization in the United States to educate about and encourage a fair court-martial and military justice system,” issued a press release ahead of the weekend addressing a recent scandal from Hegseth. Specifically, the group said it “condemns any attempt by military leaders to punish Senator Mark Kelly, a military retiree, for his speech” in connection with a video he and other veterans made for members of the military.
“Any adverse action against Senator Kelly would threaten core constitutional principles. It blurs the separation of powers by allowing the Executive Branch to punish a member of the Legislative Branch for speech made in the performance of his duties as a Senator,” according to the group. “Any adverse action chills First Amendment expression. When military leaders punish speech they do not like, they send a message that honest debate invites retaliation. Service members quickly learn that loyalty to the Constitution may carry risk if their words displease those in power. If the military can punish a Senator for speech that a senior military official does not like, no viewpoint of any military member or retiree is safe.”
The group further added, “Senator Kelly’s speech is not punishable under the UCMJ. Although the military code criminalizes certain types of speech that may affect the military mission, the Senator’s remarks are far from criminal. He simply restated a fundamental principle of military law: service members must obey lawful orders and disobey unlawful orders,” the group wrote before concluding, “Finally, the process here was flawed from the start. Secretary Hegseth first publicly announced that he wanted to punish Senator Kelly for his speech, then sent the case to a subordinate leader for his independent decision. That puts the subordinate in an impossible position: either deliver some form of punishment that Secretary Hegseth demands or potentially be fired. That is not how justice in the military works or should work.”
Legal expert Ryan Goodman quoted the release, “Secretary Hegseth’s zeal to have the military punish Senator Kelly is a worst-case scenario of this problem,” and then added, “National Institute of Military Justice Statement Against Secretary Hegseth’s Threats to Punish a Senator (disclaimer: I am a NIMJ Distinguished Fellow).”
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