Federal judge won’t stop Pentagon firing of Stars and Stripes journalists
A federal judge on Friday denied a preliminary injunction sought by three Stars and Stripes employees fired after editor Erik Slavin and reporter Lara Korte appeared in a preapproved CBS News segment about Pentagon changes at the outlet. Judge Trevor McFadden ruled the pair spoke as part of their official duties, not as private citizens, making a First Amendment retaliation claim unlikely to succeed.
Publisher Max Lederer was also terminated, not for the interview but for refusing to deliver the termination notices to his colleagues, which McFadden said was itself sufficient grounds for firing. A lawyer for the trio said Korte had been told she could keep her job if she apologized to CBS News for her comments.
McFadden noted the journalists were fired for giving interviews their own paper had approved in advance, calling it “a cruel bait-and-switch,” and left open the possibility discovery could still strengthen their case. The firings followed a March memo from the Deputy Secretary of Defense restricting the newsroom, including a ban on wire services and on anything deemed inconsistent with military “good order and discipline.”
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