Judge orders Pentagon to restore press credentials after second policy rejection
A federal judge ruled Thursday that the Pentagon violated his order by implementing a new restrictive press policy and must reinstate credentials for New York Times reporters.
10:20 PM
A federal judge on Thursday ruled that the Pentagon has not complied with a court order issued last month and directed the military department to restore press credentials to seven New York Times reporters.
U.S. District Judge Paul Friedman found that the Pentagon violated his March 20 ruling by implementing a new press access policy designed to circumvent his earlier decision. The New York Times, which sued the Trump administration in December, had urged the judge to compel implementation of his previous order after the Pentagon responded by creating what the newspaper characterized as an "end-run" around the ruling.
Friedman specifically rejected a Pentagon regulation requiring journalists to be escorted into the building, as well as language addressing what the administration called the "inducement of unauthorized disclosures." The judge declared the new policy "essentially unconstitutional" and stated that the Pentagon had "failed" to reinstate the press passes of several New York Times reporters.
This marks the second time Friedman has struck down portions of the Pentagon's press policy under Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. The judge had appeared skeptical of the Pentagon's new approach during a March 30 hearing.
The dispute stems from October 2025, when the Pentagon announced that journalists could be deemed security risks and have their press badges revoked if they solicited unauthorized military personnel to disclose classified or, in some cases, unclassified information. The Pentagon also announced the closure of the work space known as the "correspondents' corridor."
In response to the new policy, only one of 56 news outlets in the Pentagon Press Association agreed to sign an acknowledgment of the restrictions. The remaining outlets were forced to surrender their press passes and report on the Pentagon from outside the facility.
The New York Times challenged the policy in court, and Friedman ruled in the journalists' favor on March 20, determining that the policy violated protections for news gathering and due process rights. When the Pentagon responded with a revised policy rather than complying with the order, the newspaper returned to court seeking enforcement.
Friedman's Thursday ruling requires the Pentagon to comply with his order and restore reporters' access to the U.S. Defense Department.