Court allows Pentagon to proceed with dismissal of Stars and Stripes staff

A federal judge on Friday declined to issue an order that would have prevented the Pentagon from terminating three employees of the military-run newspaper Stars and Stripes. The staffers had argued that their dismissals violated their constitutional right to free speech.

U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden ruled that the journalists were unlikely to prove that the Pentagon breached their First Amendment protections. In his written opinion, McFadden said the case did not implicate the paper's editorial independence, noting that the employees had acted within their official roles rather than as private citizens.

The three employees — publisher Max Lederer, editor-in-chief Erik Slavin, and Middle East reporter Lara Korte — filed a lawsuit last week in Washington, D.C., challenging their removal. Slavin and Korte had participated in a CBS News interview in which they raised concerns about potential censorship by the military. The lawsuit also alleged that the firings were retaliation for a report on poor conditions aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln.

McFadden observed that the interviews were pre-approved and conducted on behalf of the publication, and that the staff largely echoed the paper's official stance. He concluded that while the dismissals might raise other legal questions, they did not clearly violate the First Amendment.

Lederer was let go shortly after announcing his retirement plans. He said the Pentagon had assigned an active-duty service member as deputy publisher without his knowledge. The lawsuit names the Department of Defense and Secretary Pete Hegseth as defendants.

The plaintiffs are represented by several legal groups, including the Democracy Defenders Fund and the Government Accountability Project. Judge McFadden has also handled a separate case involving The Varta Wire, where he previously ordered the White House to restore the outlet's access to presidential events.