CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. — A military panel recommended Thursday night that US Marine Gary Stein be expelled over online criticism of President Obama.
A three-person panel handed down the decision after a 13-hour hearing at Camp Pendleton.
A final ruling on Stein’s future is now in the hands of San Diego Marine Corps Recruit Depot commanding general Daniel Yoo, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported.
The Arizona native’s lawyer Gary Kreep said, “I’m not surprised by the ruling, and we will be moving forward in the federal court case to protect the rights of Sgt. Stein.”
The nine-year veteran of the Marines has already filed a lawsuit against the Department of Defense claiming he is being unfairly pushed out of the service over political comments he made on Facebook.
Among the comments on the social networking site were, “As an active-duty Marine, I say screw Obama and I will not follow all orders from him,” “I will not salute him” and “Obama is the economic enemy, he is the religious enemy … he is the domestic enemy.”
Stein’s lawsuit argues he was exercising his First Amendment right to free speech when he commented on a Facebook Tea Party forum that he would not follow any “unconstitutional” orders given by Obama.
“I never spoke on behalf of the military,” Stein earlier told KSWB-TV. “I don’t mean that I’m a Marine saying [President Obama is] the enemy. I’m Gary Stein a conservative, normal guy.”
Military rules limiting soldiers’ free speech date back to the Civil War.