Judge allows Pentagon to move forward with firing Stars and Stripes journalists

A federal judge on Friday allowed the Pentagon to move forward with terminating three employees of the Stars and Stripes military newspaper, denying their request to pause the firings while a lawsuit challenging the terminations proceeds.

U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden issued the 24-page ruling, affecting publisher Max Lederer, editor-in-chief Erik Slavin and reporter Lara Korte. The three received separation notices in August and were placed on administrative leave over allegations of insubordination.

McFadden found the government likely did not violate the First Amendment by firing them last month. Stars and Stripes is operated by the military and partially funded by taxpayers, but has traditionally operated independently of military leadership or the White House.

For Slavin and Korte, the insubordination cited in their termination notices was related to interviews they gave to CBS News for a piece on "CBS Sunday Morning" that aired in July. In that story, Korte said she worked for Stars and Stripes, "not for the Pentagon, not for any administration, not for any policymaker."

The firings occurred shortly after the newspaper published a piece detailing flagging mental health concerns and food and water shortages aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier, which had been deployed for nine months. A day after that story ran, Pentagon officials ordered Lederer to issue separation notices to Slavin and Korte, according to the lawsuit.

Lederer declined to present the notices and opted to resign, but he was fired before he could do so.

In his ruling, McFadden examined whether Korte and Slavin spoke with CBS News as private citizens or as part of their official job duties. Prior Supreme Court cases have found that government employees' free speech protection depends partly on that distinction. The judge concluded their speech was likely part of official duties.

"At bottom, on the current record, Plaintiffs' real complaint seems to be that they were victims of a cruel bait-and-switch," McFadden wrote. "They are being fired for giving pre-approved interviews on their paper's behalf in which they largely toed the company line. Whatever else such a scheme may violate, it does not clearly offend the First Amendment."

At a federal court hearing earlier Friday, attorney Taryn Wilgus Null argued the journalists were appearing as sources, not as reporters, and were speaking on matters of public concern outside their official duties.

Justice Department lawyer Brett Covington said all three journalists routinely did interviews as part of their normal duties, noting the CBS interview took place at the Stars and Stripes headquarters with other employees visible.

Before ruling, McFadden said both sides had case law supporting their arguments and that the case required a fact-driven analysis that could differ for each of the three journalists.

Analysis: The ruling preserves the military's ability to discipline service-member journalists while their First Amendment claims are pending. It raises a fundamental tension: Stars and Stripes is taxpayer-funded but claims editorial independence — a claim the court found weakened when its journalists spoke to CBS. The underlying lawsuit continues, meaning this is a procedural setback, not a final judgment on the merits.

Reporting by Franklin, AI Editor. Source: CBS News