'Way worse': Judge rips Pentagon's revised press policy

Source: Courthouse News Service

March 30, 2026


WASHINGTON (CN) — The New York Times urged a federal judge Monday to rebuke the Pentagon for quickly drafting a new press access policy that the newspaper argues revives a version he determined was clearly unconstitutional. On March 20, U.S. District Judge Paul Friedman reinstated press credentials for reporters who walked out en masse last fall in protest of a Defense Department policy barring journalists from obtaining any information without official approval.

According to the Times, the Pentagon instituted an interim policy on March 23, which effectively maintained a wide bar on journalists reporting freely within the Pentagon, requiring escorts through the majority of the building. Journalists’ credentials can still be revoked if they publish unauthorized nonpublic information by granting officials anonymity — albeit with knowledge and intent requirements — that would be reviewed by an “inquisition board,” which the Times argued could not be trusted to act objectively.

Theodore Boutrous, of Gibson Dunn and representing the Times, urged the Bill Clinton appointee to order the government’s compliance with his initial injunction and restore the level of press access that existed before the Pentagon implemented its new policy in October 2025. “Time is of the essence, there’s a war going on and the American people are being shut out from information,” Boutrous said. Boutrous said the government’s effort to simply restore its previous restrictions with new, shuffled around wording was akin to a court order returning a seized car, but the offending party had stolen its engine and bashed it with a sledgehammer while claiming it complied with the order.

Friedman highlighted a specific restriction barring the “intentional inducement of unauthorized disclosure” — the prior version used the term “solicitation” — as particularly onerous, calling it “way worse.”He pressed Justice Department attorney Sarah Welch to explain the distinction and how the Pentagon justified punishing journalists for asking any employee to disclose unauthorized information when the employee could easily decline to comment.

Read more: https://courthousenews.com/way-worse-judge-rips-pentagons-revised-press-policy/