WASHINGTON (AP) — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is appealing a judge's order that blocks him from punishing Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly, a former Navy pilot, for participating in a video that called on troops to resist unlawful orders, according to a court filing on Tuesday.
Justice Department officials filed a notice that they wil ask a panel from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to review the Feb. 12 ruling by U.S. District Judge Richard Leon.
Kelly, who represents Arizona, said in a social media post that the only reason for Hegseth to appeal is to “keep trampling on the free speech rights of retired veterans and silence dissent.”
“These guys don’t know when to quit," Kelly wrote on his X account.
Hegseth had vowed to immediately appeal Leon’s decision. “Sedition is sedition, ‘Captain,’” he posted on his X account, referring to Kelly by his rank at retirement.
In November, Kelly and five other Democratic lawmakers appeared on a video in which they urged troops to uphold the Constitution and not to follow unlawful military directives from the Trump administration. Republican President Donald Trump accused the lawmakers of sedition “punishable by DEATH” in a social media post days later.
Earlier this month, a Washington grand jury declined to indict the lawmakers over the video.
Kelly sued in federal court to block his Jan. 5 censure from Hegseth. Leon’s order prohibits the Pentagon from implementing or enforcing Kelly’s punishment while his lawsuit is pending.
Leon ruled that Pentagon officials not only violated Kelly’s First Amendment free speech rights, but they also “threatened the constitutional liberties of millions of military retirees.” The judge invoked an old-fashioned rebuke -- “Horsefeathers!” -- in response to the government’s claim that Kelly is trying to exempt himself from the rules of military justice.
“To say the least, our retired veterans deserve more respect from their Government, and our Constitution demands they receive it!” wrote Leon, who was nominated to the bench by Republican President George W. Bush.
The 90-second video was first posted on a social media account belonging to Slotkin. Reps. Jason Crow of Colorado, Chris Deluzio of Pennsylvania, Maggie Goodlander of New Hampshire and Chrissy Houlahan of Pennsylvania also appeared in the video. All of the participants are veterans of the armed services or intelligence agencies.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and his wife Jennifer Rauchet arrive before President Donald Trump delivers the State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress in the House chamber at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
From left, Sen. Ruben Gallego D-Ariz., Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., and Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin, D-Ill., join Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., for a news conference as they criticize President Donald Trump's policies and agenda ahead of his State of the Union speech, at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2026. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department is suing the University of California over allegations that UCLA failed to protect Jewish employees from antisemitic harassment amid pro-Palestinian protests that roiled the campus in 2023 and 2024.
The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in California, is the latest escalation in the Trump administration’s campaign to punish top universities that it says have been soft on antisemitism. The suit accuses the University of California, Los Angeles of failing to discipline those who were involved in protests, including dozens who were arrested in 2024 for failing to leave a campus encampment.
Trump officials previously determined that UCLA failed to protect Jewish students, and last year UCLA reached a $6 million settlement with three Jewish students and a Jewish professor who sued the university. The new lawsuit alleges the harm to Jewish and Israeli employees “goes much deeper” than the situations that settlement addressed.
“The United States will now do what UC has thus far failed to do: protect Jewish and Israeli employees” from antisemitic harassment, said the lawsuit, which was filed against the University of California, which consists of 10 campuses, but focuses on allegations against UCLA.
The University of California referred a request for comment to UCLA, which said Tuesday it has taken “concrete and significant steps” to strengthen campus security, enforce policies and combat antisemitism. It did not mention the federal government's lawsuit.
“Antisemitism is abhorrent and has no place at UCLA or elsewhere,” Mary Osako, UCLA’s vice chancellor for strategic communications, said in the statement.
Much of the federal complaint focuses on the 2024 protest encampment that federal officials say blocked Jewish employees and students from parts of campus and included antisemitic signs and chants. One night, counterprotesters attacked the encampment, throwing traffic cones and firing pepper spray, with fighting that continued for hours, injuring more than a dozen people, before police stepped in. The next day, after hundreds defied orders to leave, more than 200 people were arrested.
The 81-page lawsuit alleges UCLA violated its own policies by tolerating the encampment and accuses the university of failing to discipline any students, faculty or staff over antisemitic behavior.
“UCLA’s administration turned a blind eye to — and at times facilitated — grossly antisemitic acts and systematically ignored cries for help from its own terrified Jewish and Israeli employees,” the Justice Department alleges in the lawsuit.
The suit asks a judge to force UCLA to enforce its own anti-discrimination policies and to “award damages,” without specifying an amount, to Jewish employees at UCLA who faced a hostile work environment.
The university has said it has taken numerous steps toward improving campus safety and inclusivity, including the creation of an Office of Campus and Community Safety and new policies to manage protests on campus. UCLA Chancellor Julio Frenk, whose Jewish father and grandparents fled to Mexico to escape Nazi Germany and whose wife is the daughter of a Holocaust survivor, launched an initiative to combat antisemitism and anti-Israeli bias.
“We stand firmly by the decisive actions we have taken to combat antisemitism in all its forms, and we will vigorously defend our efforts and our unwavering commitment to providing a safe, inclusive environment for all members of our community,” Osako said in the university's statement.
The Trump administration has primarily focused on elite private universities in its campaign to win obedience from campuses it accuses of liberal and antisemitic bias. UCLA is one of the few public universities targeted in that effort.
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FILE - Children play outside Royce Hall at the University of California, Los Angeles, campus, Aug. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes, File)
