Fired Stars and Stripes staff sue Pentagon, alleging First Amendment violations

By Liam Reilly, CNN

(CNN) — Three staffers at Stars and Stripes, the military publication, sued the Pentagon and top officials on Thursday. The trio, including the outlet’s editor-in-chief, claimed they were illegally pushed out over personal statements protected under the First Amendment.

The Pentagon last week fired Erik Slavin, the outlet’s editor-in-chief, Max Lederer, its publisher, and Lara Korte, a reporter who covers the Middle East — a blow to press freedoms within the US military. Stars and Stripes has had a decades-long record of editorial independence.

The trio accused the US Department of Defense of charging them with insubordination for publicly supporting that editorial independence in covering the agency, which partly funds the publication.

They alleged the Defense Department also retaliated against a Stars and Stripes story that exposed conditions aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln.

“Defendants are attempting to fire Plaintiffs for speaking up as private citizens in support of the press’s freedom to cover military operations, its need to reach all servicepersons, and in retaliation for their publication of a news report on deteriorating conditions aboard the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln during its extended tour of duty in the Mid-East,” the complaint reads.

The lawsuit also names Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell and Principal Deputy Assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs Andrew Brey. It seeks a temporary restraining order and permanent relief ahead of the termination of their contracts.

Thursday’s lawsuit follows two other First Amendment complaints filed this year. Jacqueline Smith, the publication’s ombudsman, sued the Department of Defense in June, alleging First Amendment violations after being forced out. Two advisory board members also sued the Pentagon in June over “modernization” efforts, accusing the agency of illegal censorship.

Despite partial funding from the Pentagon, Stars and Stripes operates like a commercial newspaper and independently covers military news.

In January, however, the Pentagon said it would “modernize” the outlet and “refocus its content away from woke distractions.” The same day, the agency moved to repeal the Stripes regulations that protected the publication’s editorial independence.

Notably, the lawsuit also asks that the repeal be declared unlawful.

According to the complaint, the Pentagon’s ire stems from an eight-minute July 5 “CBS Sunday Morning” segment that included statements by Slavin and Korte about changes to Stars and Stripes’ independence.

However, the defendants understood the statements “expressed personal opinions, and therefore took no immediate action, despite their displeasure,” according to the lawsuit.

Then, on August 12, one day after Stars and Stripes broke the news about the Lincoln, the Pentagon directed Lederer to “present Notices of Separation” to Slavin and Korte. The department claimed their statements on CBS amounted to insubordination, the lawsuit says.

Lederer did not fire Slavin and Korte. Instead, a week later, he announced his retirement, effective September 30.

“It has become clear that my philosophy of leadership, and my understanding of the value and mission of Stars and Stripes, differ in fundamental ways from the direction the leadership of the Department of Defense has for the organization,” he said in a memo to staffers.

Three days later, Lederer was pushed out before his retirement date. Slavin and Korte were also fired. The lawsuit says the agency cited “statements to the media as grounds for their termination.”

In their lawsuit, the trio alleges that their departures violate Defense Department regulation: They “committed no misconduct, and even if they had, the notices and proposed terminations do not comport with required procedures,” they say in the court filing.

The Pentagon did not respond to a request for comment from CNN.

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