2026-09-04T17:54:00-0400 / 哥伦比亚广播公司新闻
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更新于：2026年9月4日 / 美国东部时间下午6:27 / 哥伦比亚广播公司新闻
一名联邦法官于周五批准五角大楼解雇《星条旗报》三名员工的计划。
美国地区法官特雷弗·麦克法登在一份24页的裁决中驳回了该报出版商、主编和中东记者提出的诉讼请求，他们要求在针对解雇决定的诉讼走完司法程序期间暂停执行解雇令。
麦克法登认定，政府上月解雇他们的行为不太可能违反他们的第一修正案权利。
原告包括出版商马克斯·莱德、主编埃里克·斯拉文和记者劳拉·科特，他们在8月收到了离职通知，并因被指不服从命令而被置于行政休假。此举引发了人们对《星条旗报》未来的担忧。该报由军方运营，部分由纳税人资助，但传统上独立于军方领导层或白宫运作。
对于斯拉文和科特，解雇通知中提及的不服从命令行为，与他们7月接受哥伦比亚广播公司《周日早间》栏目采访时的言论有关。在那篇报道中，科特表示，她为《星条旗报》工作，“不是为五角大楼，不是为任何一届政府，也不是为任何政策制定者”。
此次解雇发生在该报刊发一篇关于“亚伯拉罕·林肯”号航空母舰上日益严重的心理健康问题以及食品和饮用水短缺问题的报道后不久。该航母已部署9个月。
诉讼方称，该报道刊发一天后，五角大楼官员就命令《星条旗报》出版商莱德向斯拉文和科特发出离职通知。莱德拒绝执行，并选择辞职，但他在付诸行动前就被解雇了。
麦克法登的裁决部分分析了科特和斯拉文是否是以《星条旗报》员工的身份接受采访的。此前的最高法院判例认定，政府雇员不会因言论被解雇的权利，部分取决于他们是以普通公民身份还是以官方职务身份发表言论。
麦克法登认定，科特和斯拉文的言论很可能属于后者。
“归根结底，从目前的记录来看，原告真正的抱怨似乎是他们遭遇了一场残酷的诱饵换物骗局。他们因代表报社接受预先批准的采访而被解雇，而他们在采访中大体上遵循了报社的立场，”法官写道，“无论这样的计划可能违反了什么规定，它显然没有触犯第一修正案。”
就在该裁决作出前不久，被解雇的三名《星条旗报》员工的律师与司法部律师于周五早些时候在联邦法院展开辩论，他们辩称五角大楼非法解雇这些记者，违反了他们受保护的言论自由权。
在哥伦比亚特区的联邦法庭上，律师塔琳·威尔格斯·纳尔告诉麦克法登，她的记者客户是以消息来源而非记者的身份接受哥伦比亚广播公司的采访，他们的言论是“关乎公众利益的事务”，且并非在《星条旗报》的官方职责范围内发表。
“政府雇员并不会丧失第一修正案赋予的言论自由权，”她告诉法庭，并补充称他们“并未履行日常工作职责”，且可以选择是否接受哥伦比亚广播公司的采访。
为五角大楼辩护的司法部律师布雷特·科文顿告诉麦克法登，这三名记者平时都会例行公事地接受采访，并指出此次哥伦比亚广播公司的采访是在《星条旗报》总部进行的，背景中还能看到其他员工。
他还引用了科特的一封邮件，她在邮件中写道，她“宁愿吃玻璃”也不愿让联邦政府告诉她能写什么、不能写什么。
他表示，这封邮件提供了背景信息，表明她担心“能否履行自己的工作职责”。
他还告诉法庭，刊发关于“亚伯拉罕·林肯”号航母的报道与解雇事件无关，解雇程序早在该报道刊发一个多月前就已启动。
“我们的立场是，这是转移注意力的幌子，”他说。
麦克法登在作出裁决前承认，双方似乎都有相关判例支持各自的论点，并表示此案对他而言需要进行非常“基于事实的分析”，三名记者的情况可能各不相同。
Judge lets Pentagon move forward with firing Stars and Stripes journalists
2026-09-04T17:54:00-0400 / CBS News
By
Updated on: September 4, 2026 / 6:27 PM EDT / CBS News
A federal judge on Friday allowed the Pentagon to move forward with terminating three employees of the Stars and Stripes military newspaper.
In a 24-page ruling, U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden turned down a request by the newspaper’s publisher, editor-in-chief and Middle East reporter to halt their firings while a lawsuit challenging the terminations works its way through the court system.
McFadden found the government likely did not violate their First Amendment rights by firing them last month.
The plaintiffs — publisher Max Lederer, editor-in-chief Erik Slavin and reporter Lara Korte — were given separation notices in August and placed on administrative leave over allegations of insubordination. The move raised questions about the future of the Stars and Stripes, which is operated by the military and is partially funded by taxpayers, but has traditionally operated independently of military leadership or the White House.
For Slavin and Korte, the alleged insubordination cited in their termination notices was related to interviews they gave to CBS News for a piece on “CBS Sunday Morning” that aired in July. In the story, Korte said that she worked for Stars and Stripes, “not for the Pentagon, not for any administration, not for any policymaker.”
The firings took place shortly after the newspaper published a piece detailing flagging mental health concerns and food and water shortages aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier, which had been deployed for nine months.
A day after that story ran, the lawsuit said, Pentagon officials ordered Lederer, the Stripes’ publisher, to issue notices of separation to Slavin and Korte. Lederer declined to present them and opted to resign, but he was fired before he could do so.
Parts of McFadden’s ruling analyzed whether Korte and Slavin spoke with CBS News in their capacity as Stars and Stripes employees. Prior Supreme Court cases have found that government employees’ right not to be fired for their speech hinges partially on whether they were speaking as private citizens or as part of their official job duties.
McFadden found Korte and Slavin’s speech was likely the latter.
“[At] bottom, on the current record, Plaintiffs’ real complaint seems to be that they were victims of a cruel bait-and-switch. They are being fired for giving pre-approved interviews on their paper’s behalf in which they largely toed the company line,” the judge wrote. “Whatever else such a scheme may violate, it does not clearly offend the First Amendment.”
The ruling came shortly after lawyers for the three fired Stars and Stripes employees squared off against Justice Department attorneys in federal court earlier Friday, arguing that the Pentagon had unlawfully terminated the journalists in violation of their protected free speech.
In federal court, attorney Taryn Wilgus Null told McFadden in the District of Columbia that her journalist clients were appearing as sources — and not as reporters — for the CBS piece and were speaking “on matters of public concern” outside of their official duties at Stars and Stripes.
“Government employees do not lose their First Amendment free speech rights,” she told the court, noting as well they “were not acting within their ordinary job duties” and had a choice about whether to be interviewed for CBS News.
Brett Covington, a Justice Department lawyer who argued for the Pentagon on Friday, told McFadden that all three journalists routinely did interviews as part of their normal duties, and noted that the CBS News interview had taken place at the Stars and Stripes headquarters with other employees visible in the background.
He also cited an email from Korte in which she wrote she would “rather eat glass” than allow the federal government to tell her what she could or couldn’t write.
He said that email offered context which shows she was concerned about “being able to perform her job duties.”
He also told the court that the publication of the story about the USS Abraham Lincoln was unrelated to the firings, and that the process for those started more than a month before the story ran.
“Our position is, it’s a red herring,” he said.
McFadden, prior to ruling, acknowledged that both sides appeared to have some case law on their side to support their arguments, and said the case struck him as requiring a very “fact-driven analysis” that could be different for each of the three journalists.
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