Are Military Personnel Protected by the U.S. Constitution?

 The topic of discussion for this Constitution Monday concerns the First Amendment right to speak freely as private citizens. The Idaho Army National Guard is punishing an unnamed Christian infantry officer for speaking his belief that LGBTQ+ ideology harms children.

Sarah Holliday wrote that the officer posted on “his private social media account while running for political office in his ‘private capacity’” in 2023. “According to Liberty Counsel, the legal group defending him, his posts included statements ‘against graphic, obscene children’s books in a library and the promotion of a ‘drag kids’ event and drag queens in schools.”  The officer also “posted statements such as ‘No child is born in the wrong body,’ males should not be competing in female sports, and against the medical mutilation of gender-confused children.” 

The punishment comes from “a subordinate senior enlisted man who claims to be homosexual” formally claiming discrimination. He also said that the posts show “just how much [the officer] truly hates the LGBTQ community.” In addition to his claim of discrimination, he also claimed that his work environment was “hostile” and “prejudiced behavior.” Therefore, the man feels that the officer “created an uncomfortable, unsafe, and a hostile work environment, making it increasingly challenging for me to perform my duties effectively.”

What is the matter with this man? The officer wrote about harm being done to children by the LGBTQ+ ideology, and he did not write anything about the gay people in the National Guard.

As a result of this complaint, the infantry officer was removed from command by the Idaho Army National Guard, “then illegally pressured … to resign without benefit of any counsel or notice.” However, he chose to rescind his notice shortly after he sought help from Liberty Counsel. As they summarized, “[A]s a Christian, the officer believes all people are made in God’s image and have inherent dignity and are worthy of respect. He is committed to serving those under his command, regardless of political or religious disagreements, and would give his life in defense of his state and nation.”

Additionally, Liberty Counsel Founder and Chairman Mat Staver stated:

[Idaho] Gov. Brad Little must ensure that the Idaho Army National Guard upholds federal and state law and protects the free speech of enlisted personnel. This discrimination against an officer based on a frivolous complaint must be addressed and his record cleared and career restored.

To provide further detail, Liberty Counsel’s Associate Vice President of Legal Affairs Daniel Schmid joined Wednesday’s episode of “Washington Watch.” According to Schmid, “[I]mmediately upon receiving the complaint, some of the superiors in [the officer’s] chain of command brought him in and said, ‘You will resign, or we’ll make this ugly.’ Those were the words to him. They forced him to resign without counsel, without the presence of counsel, and without advice of counsel.”

Schmid went on to explain how “the complaint was not based on anything he did as a commanding officer.” It was about “a speech that he made outside of the military context, in the context of a political campaign. … He was making statements on various issues in the culture today, from a religious perspective, [and] the First Amendment affords him that right.” And yet, his statements are now “the subject of an investigation that’s ongoing even to this day.”

According to Schmid, this case is about making “sure that the individuals who sign up to defend our liberties, our constitutional rights, are [also] entitled to those same rights” – specifically, he clarified, the First Amendment. “You don’t surrender your constitutional rights or your statutory rights under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act and others just because you sign up for military service.”

In the case of this officer, Schmid contended that he “was entitled to political speech.”

He was entitled to hold religious values and to espouse those values in life and in his speech. He didn’t surrender those. He’s entitled to the same Constitution that he swore an oath to defend, and we ought to stand up and defend him.

Guest host and former Rep. Jody Hice (R-Ga) emphasized that this is not a battle for just the officer involved but “a fight for all Americans.” He continued that the case against this officer demonstrates a clear “disregard for the law.” He and Schmid both spoke of how this is not the first time that such punishment has occurred, and Schmid discussed how the military used the COVID-19 to purge “religious adherents for the COVID vaccine mandates.”