• A federal judge has halted the Pentagon's move to downgrade Senator Mark Kelly's military rank and pension.
• This ruling protects Kelly's First Amendment rights after he urged military personnel to refuse unlawful orders.
• Judge Richard Leon criticized the government's actions as unconstitutional retaliation against Kelly.
• President Trump labeled Kelly's video remarks as "seditious," demanding strict consequences.
• Kelly's lawsuit argues the Pentagon's attempts to punish him threaten the rights of all military retirees.

A federal judge has blocked the Pentagon from reducing Senator Mark Kelly's military retirement rank and pay, asserting that the actions against him are in violation of his First Amendment rights. U.S. District Judge Richard Leon ruled that Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth unlawfully retaliated against the Senator for participating in a video that encouraged military personnel to resist unlawful orders, stating that this infringement "threatened the constitutional liberties of millions of military retirees," according to CBS News, Reuters, Los Angeles Times, and BBC.

The controversy originated from a November video in which Kelly, alongside several other Democratic lawmakers, stated that service members could lawfully refuse directives they deemed illegal. This video received backlash from the Trump administration, with President Trump labeling the comments as "seditious behavior” in a social media post, which he controversially claimed was "punishable by DEATH," as reported by CBS News and Reuters.