Mark Kelly sues Trump’s Pentagon chief for violating Constitution

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U.S. Senator Mark Kelly (D-AZ) speaks with members on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., U.S., October 23, 2025. REUTERS/Kylie Cooper

Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) is now taking Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to court, accusing him of violating a provision of the U.S. Constitution protecting the free speech rights of lawmakers.

CNBC reported Monday that Kelly filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court in the District of Columbia, with both Hegseth and the Department of Defense (DoD) named as defendants. The suit comes one week after Hegseth announced the DoD was cutting Kelly's military pension in retaliation for Kelly — a retired captain in the U.S. Navy and former astronaut — encouraging active-duty members of the military to remember their duty to disobey illegal orders.

The senior U.S. senator from Arizona argued in the lawsuit that the DoD's actions "trample on protections the Constitution singles out as essential to legislative independence," specifically the U.S. Constitution's speech or debate clause. That provision is found in Article I, Section 6 of the Constitution and reads that members of Congress "shall in all Cases, except Treason, Felony and Breach of the Peace, be privileged from Arrest during their Attendance at the Session of their respective Houses, and in going to and returning from the same; and for any Speech or Debate in either House, they shall not be questioned in any other Place."

"It appears that never in our nation’s history has the Executive Branch imposed military sanctions on a Member of Congress for engaging in disfavored political speech," Kelly's attorneys asserted in the lawsuit.

Politico legal correspondent Kyle Cheney noted that Kelly defended his position by quoting one of his Senate colleagues from across the political aisle. One portion of the complaint noted that Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) referred to Hegseth's censure letter to Kelly as having "a chilling effect on speech."

Kelly and five other Democratic members of Congress issued the call for members of the military to disobey illegal orders in a video posted in November. After President Donald Trump reposted a call for those lawmakers to be hanged, several of them received numerous death threats from Trump supporters, leading several to file official reports with the U.S. Capitol Police Department.

Click here to read CNBC's report in its entirety.

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