Six Democratic members of Congress were well within their right to record a video last year reminding American service members of their oath to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution and their duty under the Uniform Code of Military Justice to disobey illegal orders.
Members of the public appear to agree. A grand jury in Washington, D.C., this week rejected an administration effort to indict those officials on charges that the video represented an attempt to encourage insubordination.
Attorney General Pam Bondi’s Department of Justice continues to embarrass itself on the biggest stages in its ham-handed attempt to carry out President Donald Trump’s campaign of retaliation against his political critics. In this case, it was the people, not the department, who delivered justice — and Americans should be grateful that they did.
Hampton Roads is home to approximately 83,000 active-duty service members and an estimated 200,000 veterans, giving our region one of the highest concentrations of people with military service. They know, more than others, the solemnity of their oath and the awesome responsibility it imparts.
They are also well versed in the legal parameters of service, which are spelled out in the UCMJ. Service members are required to follow lawful orders and are subject to a court-martial should they refuse. That is essential to military operations and command order, and it is central to national defense.
They also know they have the same responsibility to disobey unlawful orders, bound by the same court-martial consequences of refusing a lawful order. That’s not a matter of perspective or opinion; it’s spelled out in Article 90 of the UCMJ, which exempts a service member from punishment for disobeying “a patently illegal order, such as one that directs the commission of a crime.”
In November, six Democrats — Reps. Jason Crow of Colorado, Maggie Goodlander of New Hampshire and Chris Deluzio and Chrissy Houlahan of Pennsylvania, and Sens. Mark Kelly of Arizona and Elissa Slotkin of Michigan — recorded a 90-second video that said precisely that.
They released it after the Trump administration deployed National Guard troops and U.S. Marines to several cities, including Washington, D.C., Los Angeles and Memphis, ostensibly to support immigration arrests and deportations. Federal law prohibits using the military for domestic law enforcement.
And it came as the administration stepped up its extrajudicial strikes against vessels in the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean. Since September, U.S. forces have destroyed 38 boats and killed at least 130 people without providing firm evidence that these were narco-terrorists or a danger to the United States, as Trump has insisted.
The video wasn’t a threat to the president’s authority as commander in chief — again, those officials merely reminded service members of their oath — but Trump viewed it as such. He posted to his social media account that the video represented “SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR, punishable by DEATH!”
That was farcical, but a threat from the president carries serious implications, especially given the way Trump has ordered Bondi to pursue criminal charges against his political foes. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth went a step further by threatening a court-martial of Kelly, a former astronaut and decorated naval aviator, and seeking to reduce his retirement grade.
Thankfully, a group of citizens saw through these specious claims, and rejected an effort by U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro, a former Fox News host, to secure an indictment against the congressmembers. NBC News reported no member of the grand jury — typically between 16-23 people — voted to indict.
And on Thursday, U.S. District Court Judge Richard Leon, a George W. Bush appointee, blocked the Pentagon from trying to punish Kelly, concluding Hegseth’s actions “threatened the constitutional liberties of millions of military retirees.”
The exoneration of these lawmakers is some comfort, but the administration’s actions here remain deeply troubling. Repeating the law and reminding service members of their duties are the furthest thing from criminal acts, even when they offend the president’s delicate ego, and this measure of justice should be cheered.
