The 'Friday night massacre': firing the military's top lawyers en masse

Editor's note: reporting documents the firings and the stated wish for lawyers who are not roadblocks, but no court or official finding establishes an improper purpose.

On the night of February 21, 2025, the same announcement in which Trump fired Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. C.Q. Brown and Hegseth removed the Chief of Naval Operations and the Air Force Vice Chief of Staff, Hegseth announced he was 'requesting nominations' for new Judge Advocates General of the Army, Navy, and Air Force, which had the practical effect of removing sitting Army TJAG Lt. Gen. Joseph Berger and Air Force TJAG Lt. Gen. Charles Plummer (the Navy post was already vacant following Vice Adm. Christopher French's recent resignation). No misconduct was cited for any of the three; legal commentators dubbed the episode the Pentagon's 'Friday night massacre.'

Hegseth told Fox News the removals were necessary because he wanted 'lawyers who give sound constitutional advice and don't exist to attempt to be roadblocks to anything... that happens in their spots', a direct, on-the-record statement that the military's independent legal advisers were being replaced because of their institutional role as a check, not for any individual failure. Georgetown Law professor Rosa Brooks wrote that firing the JAGs was 'in some ways even more chilling' than firing the four-stars: 'It's what you do when you're planning to break the law: you get rid of any lawyers who might try to slow you down.'

Retired Rear Admiral James McPherson, a former Army general counsel, called Hegseth's characterization of military lawyers 'not only crude, but vulgar,' and noted the one thing the three removed TJAGs had in common was Senate confirmation under the Biden administration. Weeks later, Hegseth commissioned his own personal lawyer of eight years, Tim Parlatore, as a Navy JAG Corps reservist, reportedly to lead a 'sweeping overhaul' of the corps aimed at securing more permissive legal interpretations for battlefield conduct and leniency for service members accused of war-crimes-adjacent offenses.