Last week, U.S. District Judge Richard Leon temporarily blocked the Pentagon and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth from demoting or punishing Arizona Senator Mark Kelly for a video he published on social media in mid-November 2025 with five other Democratic lawmakers, all veterans or former national security professionals.

Hegseth called Kelly’s video an act of “sedition and treason.”

The video called on all “members of the military and the intelligence community” to “refuse illegal orders.”

Speaking at a Feb. 11 news conference, Kelly called Hegseth’s effort “straight from the authoritarian playbook.”

The senator added, “This is a story about how Donald Trump and his cronies are trying to break our system to silence anyone who lawfully speaks out against them… to send a signal to every American that they better think twice before they speak out or they might be next.”

Two Arizona State University students and a faculty member rejected Hegseth’s characterization of Kelly’s actions.

“In addition to my regular classes, I’m also taking business etiquette and ethics classes,” said ASU marketing major, James Burns. “How is what Mark Kelly did wrong? When you’re asked to do something illegal, you should know that your rights include the right to refuse.”

“This criticism of Senator Kelly is absurd,” said Valerie Hoekstra, a professor at ASU’s School of Politics and Global Studies specializing in judicial decision-making and the relationship between courts and public opinion.

“To call this as sedition and treason is absurd,” Hoekstra said.

“Senator Kelly was exercising his First Amendment rights and reminding the brave women and men in the armed forces they also retain their rights.”

In his ruling decision, Judge Richard Leon dismissed the government’s claim that Kelly sought to exempt himself from military justice rules as “Horsefeathers!” He added that “the First Amendment is a limitation on the power of Congress, not the other way around,” and warned that retaliation against Kelly “threatens retaliation against all.”

“Military members are sworn to protect foreign and domestic threats,” said an ASU graduate student who requested anonymity, “If anyone is a traitor, it’s Hegseth for supporting Trump’s criminal actions against those on American soil through his blatant dismissal of the Constitution and its laws.”

Hegseth, referring to the ruling by the judge on a social media post, said it would be immediately appealed, “Sedition is sedition, ‘Captain,’” referencing Kelly’s Navy rank before retiring.