Judge sides with New York Times in challenge to policy limiting
reporters’ access to Pentagon
[March 21, 2026]
By MICHAEL KUNZELMAN
WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge agreed Friday to block the Trump
administration from enforcing a policy limiting news reporters’ access
to the Pentagon, agreeing with The New York Times that key portions of
the new rules are unlawful.
U.S. District Judge Paul Friedman in Washington, D.C., sided with the
newspaper and ruled that the Pentagon policy illegally restricts the
press credentials of reporters who walked out of the building rather
than agree to the new rules.
The Times sued the Pentagon and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in
December, claiming the credentialing policy violates the journalists’
constitutional rights to free speech and due process.
The current Pentagon press corps is comprised mostly of conservative
outlets that agreed to the policy. Reporters from outlets that refused
to consent to the new rules, including from The Associated Press, have
continued reporting on the military.
The Defense Department has been letting some of the legacy media
reporters that didn’t agree to the restrictions back in the Pentagon for
some of Hegseth’s Iran war briefings. Hegseth rarely calls on them,
although he did recently take questions from reporters like Eric Schmitt
of The Times and Luis Martinez of ABC.
Friedman, who was nominated to the bench by Democratic President Bill
Clinton, said the policy “fails to provide fair notice of what routine,
lawful journalistic practices will result in the denial, suspension, or
revocation” of Pentagon press credentials. He ruled that it violates the
First and Fifth amendment rights to free speech and due process.
“Those who drafted the First Amendment believed that the nation’s
security requires a free press and an informed people and that such
security is endangered by governmental suppression of political speech.
That principle has preserved the nation’s security for almost 250 years.
It must not be abandoned now,” the judge wrote.
Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell posted late Friday on X, “We disagree
with the decision and are pursuing an immediate appeal.”
Times lauds ruling as boon for press freedom
New York Times spokesperson Charlie Stadtlander said the newspaper
believes the ruling “enforces the constitutionally protected rights for
the free press in this country.”
“Americans deserve visibility into how their government is being run,
and the actions the military is taking in their name and with their tax
dollars,” Stadtlander said in a statement. "Today’s ruling reaffirms the
right of The Times and other independent media to continue to ask
questions on the public’s behalf.”
Theodore Boutrous, an attorney who represented The Times at a hearing
earlier this month, said in a statement that the court ruling is “a
powerful rejection of the Pentagon’s effort to impede freedom of the
press and the reporting of vital information to the American people
during a time of war."
The judge ordered the Pentagon to reinstate the press credentials of
seven Times journalists. He also said his decision to vacate the
challenged policy terms applies to “all regulated parties.”
Noting that part of the ruling, the Pentagon Press Association — which
includes AP reporters — called for the immediate reinstatement of the
credentials of all its members.
The PPA released a statement saying: “This is a great day for freedom of
the press in the United States. It is also hopefully a learning
opportunity for Pentagon leadership, which took extreme steps to limit
press access to information in wartime.”
The Defense Department has argued that the policy imposes “common sense”
rules that protect the military from the disclosure of national security
information.
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Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth speaks to members of the media during
a press briefing at the Pentagon in Washington, Thursday, March 19,
2026. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
“The goal of that process is to prevent those who pose a security
risk from having broad access to American military headquarters,”
government attorneys wrote.
Times attorneys claim the policy is designed to silence unfavorable
press coverage of President Donald Trump’s administration.
“The First Amendment flatly prohibits the government from granting
itself the unbridled power to restrict speech because the mere
existence of such arbitrary authority can lead to self-censorship,”
they wrote.
Judge finds Pentagon tried to weed out ‘disfavored’ journalists
The judge said he recognizes that “national security must be
protected, the security of our troops must be protected, and war
plans must be protected.”
“But especially in light of the country’s recent incursion into
Venezuela and its ongoing war with Iran, it is more important than
ever that the public have access to information from a variety of
perspectives about what its government is doing — so that the public
can support government policies, if it wants to support them;
protest, if it wants to protest; and decide based on full, complete,
and open information who they are going to vote for in the next
election,” Friedman wrote.
Friedman said the “undisputed evidence” shows that the policy is
designed to weed out “disfavored journalists" and replace them with
those who are “on board and willing to serve” the government, a
clear instance of illegal viewpoint discrimination.
“In sum, the Policy on its face makes any newsgathering and
reporting not blessed by the Department a potential basis for the
denial, suspension, or revocation of a journalist’s (credentials),”
he wrote. “It provides no way for journalists to know how they may
do their jobs without losing their credentials.”
Pentagon must update judge in a week
The Pentagon had asked the judge to suspend his ruling for a week
for an appeal. Friedman refused. He gave the Pentagon a week to file
a written report on its compliance with the order.
The Times argued that the Pentagon has applied its own rules
inconsistently. The newspaper noted that Trump ally Laura Loomer, a
right-wing personality who agreed to the Pentagon policy, appeared
to violate the Pentagon's prohibition on soliciting unauthorized
information by promoting her “tip line.” The government didn’t
object to Loomer’s tip line but concluded that a Washington Post tip
line does violate its policy because it purportedly “targets”
military personnel and department employees.
The judge said he doesn't see any meaningful difference between the
two tip lines.
“But the problem is that nothing in the Policy explicitly prevents
the Department from treating these two nearly identical tip lines
differently,” Friedman added.
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Associated Press writers Konstantin Toropin in Washington and David
Bauder in New York contributed to this report.
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