A federal judge ruled Thursday that the Pentagon cheated when it tried to block access to all reporters in order to keep The New York Times out of the building.
Judge Paul Friedman, a Clinton appointee, ordered the Defense Department to restore the newspaper’s access.
The ruling is the latest in a back-and-forth between Secretary Pete Hegseth and the press, and it represents another loss for the administration.
He had initially tried to impose conditions on reporters at the Pentagon, limiting what they could publish if they wanted to retain space in the press room. The New York Times challenged that and Judge Friedman sided with the paper, ordering their reporters’ full access restored.
The Pentagon promised to reissue press credentials but then decided to kick all reporters out, including those that had agreed to play ball. Officials said they were moving reporters to an annex for security reasons.
Judge Friedman said that was a poor ruse.
“In short, the department has responded to the court’s express instruction to return the [press credentials] previously held by The Times’ journalists and restore the access to the Pentagon that came with those credentials by instead cutting off that access for all journalists. That response flouts the court’s explicit directives and disregards the constitutional principles at the heart of its opinion,” the judge wrote.
While he found the policies to be a violation of press rights, it’s not clear how many reporters will benefit.
It was The New York Times that sued and asked for its reporters’ access to be restored.
His previous order applied to the newspaper and “all regulated parties.”
This new order declared the restrictions on all press pass holders to be a violation of that previous ruling. But the specific remedy mentions only reporters who work for or are “otherwise associated with” The New York Times.
Chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said the Defense Department disagrees with Judge Friedman’s ruling and intends to file an appeal.
“The Department has at all times complied with the court’s order. It reinstated the [press credentials] of every journalist identified in the order and issued a materially revised policy that addressed every concern the court identified in its March 20 opinion,” he wrote on X. “The Department remains committed to press access at the Pentagon while fulfilling its statutory obligation to ensure the safe and secure operation of the Pentagon reservation.”
The Washington Times was among dozens of news outlets that turned in press credentials that granted them access to the Pentagon rather than sign a document that would have restricted their ability to do their job.
The Times is also a member of the Pentagon Press Association, which signed an amicus brief in the lawsuit.
The press space the Pentagon had closed down was known as Correspondents’ Corridor. Reporters had worked there since it was unveiled in November 1972 by Melvin Laird, President Richard Nixon’s defense secretary.
