DOJ Tries and Fails to Indict Congress Members for Their Video Stating Soldiers’ Obligation to Resist Unlawful Orders
NEWS & RESEARCH
In February 2026, a federal grand jury declined to indict six Democratic members of Congress—Sens. Elissa Slotkin and Mark Kelly, along with Reps. Jason Crow, Maggie Goodlander, Chrissy Houlahan, and Chris Deluzio. The proposed charges stemmed from a 90-second video they produced in November 2025, which discussed the legal and ethical obligations of service members to refuse unlawful orders under the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ). Notably, all six lawmakers are military veterans. President Trump had accused the lawmakers of being "traitors" who engaged in "sedition at the highest level" and "should be in jail." He even suggested they should be executed over the video.
SOURCES: TIME | Video of Congress Members | FOX News
ANALYSIS & OPINION
Lawmakers and other critics argued that the Department of Justice had weaponized the legal system to suppress free speech. Legal scholars note that while troops have a long-standing obligation to disobey "manifestly unlawful" orders, the ambiguous legal threshold for doing so puts junior service members in a perilous position when facing command pressure. In the wake of the video, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth initiated disciplinary proceedings against Sen. Kelly, threatening him with a formal censure and a pension-impacting demotion. Kelly responded by suing Hegseth, asserting that the Department of Defense's retaliatory actions violated his First Amendment rights.
SOURCES: Democracy Docket | The Guardian
HOW TO FIX IT
Federal action:
Amend Title 10 of the U.S. Code to address refusal-of-order cases through separate military prosecutors rather than the immediate chain of command.
Congress should clearly define what constitutes an “unlawful order” within the text of the UCMJ.
