Three employees of the Stars and Stripes publication, including its longtime publisher, have filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia against senior Department of War leaders over their recent firings by the Pentagon.
Three staffers at Stars and Stripes, including the military publication’s publisher and editor in chief, sued the Defense Department, saying their recent firings by the Pentagon were illegal and violated their free-speech protections under the First Amendment.
In the lawsuit, filed Thursday in federal district court in Washington, publisher Max Lederer, editor in chief Erik Slavin and reporter Lara Korte claimed that their firings last week for “insubordination” were retaliatory in nature and violated federal administrative law.
After a Pentagon official, Andrew Brey, emailed Lederer last week and asked him to fire Slavin and Korte for participating in a CBS News interview, he declined to do so and instead submitted plans to retire, The Washington Post previously reported.
On Friday, all three were fired, with the dismissals to take effect after five business days. In their lawsuit filed Thursday, the three asked a federal judge to halt their firings.
Stars and Stripes reporter Lara Korte commented on the lawsuit on her X account Thursday:
After being told we were fired for insubordination, my colleagues and I today filed a lawsuit in federal court against the Defense Department, Pete Hegseth, Sean Parnell and Andrew Brey seeking to protect our First Amendment rights.
— Lara Korte (@lara_korte) August 27, 2026
Everyone deserves the right to a free and…
She wrote:
After being told we were fired for insubordination, my colleagues and I today filed a lawsuit in federal court against the Defense Department, Pete Hegseth, Sean Parnell and Andrew Brey seeking to protect our First Amendment rights.
Everyone deserves the right to a free and independent press, especially our service members. This lawsuit is about safeguarding the mission of Stars and Stripes journalists so they can continue to do their jobs without fear or retaliation.
The three employees also released a joint statement, according to WaPo.
“Our goal is to protect the rights of service members and their families to a free and independent press,” Lederer, Slavin and Korte wrote. “Stars and Stripes has served them for generations, and that independence is essential to keeping military communities fully and accurately informed.”
“This lawsuit is about safeguarding that mission and ensuring our civilian and military journalists can do their jobs without retaliation,” they added.
RedState's R.C. Maxwell reported exclusively on Aug. 21 about a senior U.S. official's "blunt assessment" of the multiple reasons the Pentagon handed Lederer his separation notice:
On Friday, a senior U.S. official delivered a blunt assessment of the Pentagon’s decision to terminate longtime Stars and Stripes publisher Max D. Lederer Jr., telling RedState exclusively: “Max was fired for insubordination, but he was also fired because he oversaw the massive decline of Stars and Stripes throughout his time as the publisher. He was lazy, terrible at his job, and lacked proper vision.”
...
The same official later told RedState: “I can’t believe he was allowed to serve in that role for as long as he did. Those mourning him never wanted to see Stars and Stripes become a real competitor.”
You can read the full lawsuit filing here.
This is a developing story. RedState will provide updates as more information becomes available.
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