Sandego.net – The military’s oldest continuously published newspaper has lost three key figures in what critics are calling a defining test of editorial autonomy within the armed forces. On Friday, US District Judge Trevor McFadden issued a written decision denying temporary restraining orders sought by Stars and Stripes publisher Max Lederer, editor-in-chief Erik Slavin, and Middle East correspondent Lara Korte. With the injunctions rejected, the Department of Defense is now free to proceed with terminating all three employees — a move that has drawn sharp criticism from press-freedom advocates who see it as the latest escalation in a sustained campaign to reshape how the Pentagon’s own newspaper operates.

McFadden, who was appointed to the federal bench by President Donald Trump in 2017, concluded that the government had likely not infringed the journalists’ First Amendment rights. In his written opinion, he placed the burden squarely on the plaintiffs:…