US District Judge Paul Friedman, a Clinton appointee on Thursday once again sided with The New York Times and ordered the Pentagon to restore press access.
Last month Judge Friedman ruled that the Pentagon’s new press policy restricting press credential of reporters is unconstitutional.
In October, Pentagon reporters turned in their badges after they refused to sign Secretary of War Pete Hegseth’s new security rule.
“Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth demanded that reporters agree by 5 p.m. Tuesday to a new policy, under which they would need to pledge to not obtain or use any unauthorized material, even if the information is unclassified — or hand over their press badges in the next 24 hours,” The Hill previously reported.
By that afternoon, Pentagon reporters turned in their badges.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Journalists begin leaving Pentagon after refusing to sign Trump administration agreements on rules of access.
— Seung Min Kim (@seungminkim) October 15, 2025
The reporters turned in their badges and left the building.
The journalists who cover the Pentagon had to choose today between signing a pledge that would make it impossible to do independent journalism and turning in their Pentagon press badges. Almost all of them turned in their badges and left the building. pic.twitter.com/xqO3HTsY9A
— Jonathan Karl (@jonkarl) October 15, 2025
The Pentagon Press Association previously released a statement blasting Hegseth.
“Today, the Defense Department confiscated the badges of the Pentagon reporters from virtually every major media organization in America. It did this because reporters would not sign onto a new media policy over its implicit threat of criminalizing national security reporting and exposing those who sign it to potential prosecution,” the PPA said.
“The Pentagon Press Association’s members are still committed to reporting on the US military. But make no mistake, today, Oct. 15, 2025 is a dark day for press freedom that raises concerns about a weakening US commitment to transparency in governance, to public accountability at the Pentagon and to free speech for all,” the statement said.
The Pentagon press pool now includes conservative outlets, including The Gateway Pundit.
The New York Times filed a lawsuit to stop the Pentagon from enforcing its new policy.
Judge Friedman blocked the Pentagon from enforcing its new policy and said it violated the First Amendment.
“The Court 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,” the judge wrote in a 40-page opinion last month.
The Pentagon left in place some of the restrictions after Friedman’s March order.
On Thursday, Judge Friedman ordered the Pentagon to lift the restrictions and fully restore press access.
“The Court cannot conclude this Opinion without noting once again what this case is really about: the attempt by the Secretary of Defense to dictate the information received by the American people, to control the message so that the public hears and sees only what the Secretary and the Trump Administration want them to hear and see,” Friedman wrote.
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