A federal judge has declined to stop the Pentagon from firing journalists who say they were illegally punished for speaking out about the need for the Stars and Stripes publication to maintain its editorial independence. The ruling by US district judge Trevor McFadden allows the defense department to proceed for now in exerting greater editorial control over the historically independent military news outlet.
Ruling on First Amendment claims
McFadden, a Donald Trump appointee, said the journalists are unlikely to prove that the Pentagon violated their First Amendment free speech rights. He stated that Stars and Stripes’ editorial independence “is not at stake here”. In his written opinion, McFadden noted: “Plaintiffs argue that their termination will chill the protected expression of themselves and others at Stripes. Plaintiffs have failed to demonstrate a chill here.”
The lawsuit was filed last Thursday in Washington DC by Stars and Stripes publisher Max Lederer, editor-in-chief Erik Slavin, and Middle East reporter Lara Korte. They challenged their firings by the Pentagon, which partially funds the news outlet. The lawsuit alleges that Pentagon officials directed Lederer to fire Slavin and Korte after the publication of an 11 August article detailing deteriorating conditions and mental health crises aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln. Lederer declined to do so and later announced his retirement, saying the Pentagon had installed a new deputy publisher without his knowledge.
Court’s reasoning
McFadden, however, concluded that Slavin and Korte were legally dismissed for giving interviews to CBS News as part of their official duties as public employees and not as private citizens. “They are being fired for giving pre-approved interviews on their paper’s behalf in which they largely toed the company line,” the judge wrote. “Whatever else such a scheme may violate, it does not clearly offend the First Amendment.”
The defense department and defense secretary Pete Hegseth are among the lawsuit’s named defendants. McFadden’s ruling deals a blow to the journalists, whose lawsuit argues that they should be reinstated to their jobs. An attorney for the journalists called the ruling “disappointing”, according to CNN.
Other lawsuits against Pentagon
At least two other lawsuits have accused the Pentagon of interfering with Stars and Stripes’s editorial integrity and independence. Pulitzer-winning reporters Susan Dardarian and William Church, who serve as advisory board members to the publication, sued the Pentagon in June, accusing the military of illegal censorship. The publication’s former ombudsman, Jacqueline Smith, sued the Pentagon the same month, saying she was fired in retaliation for an opinion column, in violation of her First Amendment rights.
