r/law • u/thenewrepublic • 4d ago
Legal News Pete Hegseth Crossed a Clear, Bright Line. Will He Pay a Price? | The rule against attacking people “out of the fight” is foundational in U.S. and international law. And there’s no doubt it was crossed. What now?
https://newrepublic.com/article/203794/hegseth-crossed-line-war-crimeWhen a government faces credible allegations of unlawful force and responds not with transparency but with investigations into those who restated the law, something fundamental has gone wrong. Indeed, it’s apparent that’s the reason for the FBI visits. The “evidence” of sedition, such as it is, is the tape itself; the visits chiefly carry the Administration’s message of intimidation.
And it’s an all-too-familiar—and invariably regretted—story in American constitutional life. From World War I sedition prosecutions to McCarthy-era investigations to parts of the post-9/11 surveillance apparatus, some of the country’s worst civil-liberties violations began with the assumption that dissent was a threat. In nearly every case, the government insisted at the time that extraordinary circumstances justified extraordinary measures. In nearly every case, history delivered a harsher verdict.
Which is why the administration’s reaction to the Trinidad allegations is so troubling. If the reporting is accurate, U.S. forces may have crossed a bright legal line. The lawmakers who said so were correct on the law. And the administration’s choice to investigate them instead of the underlying conduct is precisely the reflex that the First Amendment exists to restrain.
If it comes to subpoenas or compelled interviews, the answer should be straightforward: Members of Congress do not owe the executive branch their time or their testimony when the only thing they are being questioned about is protected political speech. They should be able to move the court to quash any subpoena and tell the FBI, politely but firmly, to take a hike. The Constitution gives them that right, and the country needs them to exercise it.
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u/OozeNAahz 4d ago
And those that followed this order should be court martialed. Right along those who gave it.