First Amendment

Jacob Sullum | 2.11.2026 1:45 PM

Three months ago, six Democratic members of Congress posted a video reminding U.S. military personnel of their well-established duty to "refuse illegal orders." The video, which urged compliance with the law and the Constitution rather than the whims of the man who is currently running the executive branch, irked President Donald Trump, who said the six legislators "should be ARRESTED AND PUT ON TRIAL." On Tuesday, a grand jury in Washington, D.C., disagreed, rejecting a proposed indictment charging the two senators and four representatives with a federal felony.

Such roadblocks are highly unusual. Grand juries, which hear only the government's side of a case, almost always approve charges recommended by federal prosecutors. But the attempt to prosecute sitting members of Congress for constitutionally protected speech that offended the president was also highly unusual, as the grand jurors apparently recognized.

The video at the center of the attempted indictment features Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D–Mich.), a former CIA officer; Sen. Mark Kelly (D–Ariz.), a former astronaut and U.S. Navy aviator; Rep. Chris Deluzio (D–Pa.), also a former naval officer; Rep. Maggie Goodlander (D–N.H.), a former intelligence officer in the U.S. Navy Reserve; Rep. Chrissy Houlahan (D–Pa.), a former Air Force officer; and Rep. Jason Crow (D–Colo.), a former Army Ranger. They mention those backgrounds while delivering a simple message to "members of the military" and "the intelligence community" who "take risks each day to keep Americans safe": "Our laws are clear. You can refuse illegal orders."

That message is indisputably accurate as a matter of law. In fact, according to the Judge Advocate General's Operational Law Handbook, "soldiers have a duty to disobey" orders........

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