Three staff members of Stars and Stripes, the news outlet serving the U.S. military, are suing to challenge their recent firings by the Pentagon, accusing the Trump administration of violating their First Amendment free speech rights to speak out against government interference in their work.

Stars and Stripes publisher Max Lederer, editor-in-chief Erik Slavin, and Middle East reporter Lara Korte are named as plaintiffs in the federal lawsuit filed Thursday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. The Pentagon, which partially funds the news outlet, fired them last week. A Pentagon spokesperson declined to comment on the suit's allegations.

Stars and Stripes was first published by Union soldiers during the Civil War and has been published continuously since World War II, serving U.S. servicemembers and their families stationed around the world. Although it is partially funded through the Defense Department, the outlet has historically operated with editorial independence — a principle its staff says is now at stake. That independence has been contested before: in 2020, the Pentagon moved to shut the paper down as part of a proposed budget cut, drawing objections from members of Congress in both parties before lawmakers restored its funding and later added new editorial-independence protections to defense policy law. The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution prohibits the government from abridging freedom of speech or of the press.

Slavin says he was dismissed for insubordination after giving an interview to CBS News in which he objected to potential censorship by the U.S. military. Korte participated in the same interview. Their lawsuit says they were punished in retaliation for publishing a report on deteriorating conditions aboard the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln.

"Stripes' historical editorial independence is critical to its core mission of gathering and providing unbiased, credible journalism to the U.S. military community, particularly servicemembers and their families stationed overseas," the suit says.

Lederer was dismissed shortly after announcing his impending retirement, which was to take effect at the end of September. He said the Pentagon had installed a new deputy publisher, an active duty service member, under him at the newspaper without his prior knowledge.

The plaintiffs are represented by attorneys from Democracy Defenders Fund, Lawyers for Good Government, Government Accountability Project, and a Yale Law School clinic. The Defense Department and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth are among the named defendants. The government's next step in the litigation is a formal response to the complaint, available here.

Source: Fortune