Three Stars and Stripes staffers who were shown the door last week are now running to a D.C. federal court and forcing the Trump administration to keep them on the taxpayer-supported payroll.
Publisher Max Lederer, Editor-in-Chief Erik Slavin, and Middle East reporter Lara Korte filed a 45-page lawsuit Thursday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia against Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell, senior Pentagon official Andrew Brey, and the Department of Defense, Politico reported.
The plaintiffs accuse the Pentagon of violating their First Amendment rights and federal personnel rules by moving to fire them for alleged “insubordination.”
Although media reports have described the three as already fired, the federal complaint confirms that they received proposed separation notices on August 21. They are now seeking an emergency temporary restraining order to stop the terminations from becoming final.
They are also demanding reinstatement and back pay if the Pentagon completes the firings before the court intervenes.
The Gateway Pundit previously reported that the Pentagon moved against all three employees as the Trump administration attempts to overhaul Stars and Stripes, modernize its operations, and eliminate what officials have called “woke distractions that syphon morale.”
Slavin and Korte claim the Pentagon targeted them for participating in a July 5 CBS News segment about the military newspaper’s relationship with the Department of Defense.
During the interview, Slavin said Pentagon censorship would cross a personal “red line.” Korte insisted that she worked for Stars and Stripes—not for the Pentagon, an administration, or a policymaker.
The two journalists claim that their appearances were approved by their supervisors and that they were expressing personal opinions consistent with Stars and Stripes’ historic claim of editorial independence.
But the Pentagon reportedly viewed their television appearance as an unauthorized public attack on the administration’s reforms.
According to the complaint, Parnell accused the newspaper’s senior leadership of “open rebellion” in a July performance review and wrote that carrying out President Trump’s policies was the most important element of the performance plan.
The lawsuit alleges the Pentagon waited more than five weeks after the CBS appearance before initiating disciplinary action—and acted only after Stars and Stripes published a damaging report about conditions aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln.
On August 11, the newspaper reported that approximately 5,000 sailors aboard the aircraft carrier had endured food and water shortages, disrupted mail service, exhausting workdays, and little time off during an extended Middle East deployment.
The report also raised concerns about the sailors’ physical and mental health.
The very next day, according to the complaint, Brey ordered Lederer to present separation notices to Slavin and Korte based on statements they had made during the CBS interview more than a month earlier.
Lederer refused.
He reportedly asked Brey to explain the legal basis for the punishment and questioned whether Slavin and Korte’s comments actually violated Pentagon regulations.
Brey allegedly responded by ordering Lederer to deliver the notices as instructed.
Rather than comply, Lederer announced that he would retire on September 30, citing fundamental disagreements with the Pentagon’s direction for the newspaper. The Pentagon then issued Lederer his own proposed separation notice.
The three employees were charged with insubordination and violations of administrative regulations.
Their lawsuit presents four claims against the government: First Amendment retaliation, unconstitutional restrictions on press activity, violations of the Administrative Procedure Act in connection with the terminations, and separate APA violations involving the Pentagon’s new Stars and Stripes policies.
The employees argue that Pentagon personnel regulations typically require progressive discipline and 30 days’ notice before separation. Their notices allegedly provided only five business days to respond.
They also argue that the Pentagon’s regulations encourage employees to discuss unclassified matters with the media and that Slavin and Korte had received supervisory approval before appearing on CBS.
The lawsuit asks the court to declare the proposed firings unconstitutional, block the Pentagon from carrying them out, and overturn recent rules expanding Pentagon oversight of the newspaper.
White House adviser Stephen Miller previously defended the administration’s actions, telling reporters, “If anybody was fired, it was for just cause.”
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