The Supreme Court is set to hear arguments in the national security case of a former Marine reservist who sued the military and the Justice Department over his deployment.
Lawyers for the former Marine said he was subjected to a “rampant smear campaign” by the military in retaliation for his whistleblowing.
Lawyer for Marine who sued over ‘national service’ says Trump ‘has done a great job’The military has a history of retaliating against whistleblowers, the former reservist’s lawyer, Robert Bork, told The Hill.
He said the military’s “history of bullying and intimidating” has been well documented.
“If Trump is not going to listen to these whistleblowers, then he has a lot of work to do to be a responsible president and that includes not putting people in positions of power who have the power to abuse their power,” Bork said.
In a brief written Thursday, the lawyers for the military wrote that they did not believe the case would be “dismissable” because of the president’s “inherent and constitutionally-protected authority to make executive orders.”
The Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected an effort by a former Navy SEAL to intervene in the case, which was filed by the Marine Corps, the Justice and Defense Departments and a private group.
The former SEAL claimed he was subject to a hostile work environment, harassment and physical abuse during his four years at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, and that his service was “humiliated and violated.”
The case, filed by retired U.N. Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs Michael C. O’Brien, was one of the most high-profile in recent years as the Trump administration pushed forward its national security agenda.