An Army review board reversed a reprimand given to an officer for attending a Black Lives Matter protest.
Capt. Alan Kennedy, a former Colorado Army National Guardsman, went to a protest on May 30, 2020, in Denver. After two investigations, he was issued a general office memorandum of reprimand, which the Department of the Army Suitability Evaluation Board overturned last week.
The saga began when Col. Charles Beatty, the chief of staff of Colorado’s National Guard, ordered an investigation into Kennedy following his attendance at the rally, which Kennedy described in an opinion article, to determine whether he broke any DOD rules by writing the piece or being at the rally itself.
While Kennedy was not in duty status at the time, active-duty members are required to have a disclaimer on any published letters, and the investigator found that there was a minor violation with the opinion piece, according to the Army Times.
The investigator also looked into whether Kennedy violated Department of Defense Instruction 1325.06, which bars off-duty troops from “participating in off-post demonstrations … [where] violence is likely to result.”
Beatty altered the findings to rule that “violence was likely to occur” at the protest, which occurred in the days following George Floyd’s murder at the hands of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin.
The head of the Colorado guard began a second investigation into Kennedy after he published another opinion piece.
The second investigation concluded that Kennedy violated the Colorado Code of Military Justice by criticizing his chain of command, so he was issued a general officer memorandum of reprimand on Sept. 11, 2020.
Brig. Gen. Douglas Paul wrote Kennedy’s reprimand, which was obtained by the Washington Examiner, and he argued that Kennedy’s “actions brought disrepute and dishonor upon the” Colorado Army National Guard.
“It is also apparent from the plain language of the article that it was your intent to do so, and thereby to intimidate the command into refraining from lawful use of its authority to investigate,” Paul added.
Kennedy then filed a lawsuit on March 16, 2021, alleging that the reprimand amounted to a violation of his First Amendment rights.
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The board’s decision to overturn the reprimand “is a victory for the First Amendment and the right to protest and write about racism,” Kennedy told the Washington Examiner on Monday.
But the case will continue because Kennedy views the regulation — the prohibition of participation in off-post demonstrations if “violence is likely to result” — as “unconstitutional.”
In a similar case, a Marine was investigated but ultimately not disciplined for appearing at a Trump rally.
Lance Cpl. Hunter Clark came onstage at former President Donald Trump’s Sept. 25, 2020, “Save America” rally in Perry, Georgia, though the inspector general ultimately ruled that he didn’t violate Defense Department policy.
