The New York Times filed a lawsuit Thursday challenging new Pentagon rules that restrict reporters covering the Defense Department, arguing that the regulations violate the First Amendment’s protections for a free press.
The suit names both the Pentagon and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and comes nearly two months after Times reporters, along with journalists from several other major outlets, staged a walkout of the Pentagon and surrendered their credentials in protest of the new rules. Reporters who refused to comply were replaced by journalists seen as sympathetic to the Trump administration.
The Pentagon’s policy, introduced in October, includes a 21-page rulebook that prohibits reporters from seeking or publishing information that has not been explicitly authorized by the department, even if it is unclassified or obtained off Pentagon grounds. Outlets that refused to adhere to the rules lost their access.
The Times is asking a federal judge in Washington, D.C., to block the enforcement of the policy and declare it unconstitutional. The lawsuit contends that the rules “seek to restrict journalists’ ability to do what journalists have always done — ask questions of government employees and gather information to report stories that take the public beyond official pronouncements.” It also argues that the rules give the Defense Department “unbridled discretion” to enforce restrictions at its own judgment, depriving the public of crucial information about the U.S. military and its leadership.
The policy is part of Hegseth’s broader efforts since taking office in January to reshape the Pentagon press corps. Several major outlets have lost in-house workspaces, office locations have been reassigned, and more restrictive rules have been placed on where journalists can move within the building, often favoring conservative outlets and pro-Trump reporters willing to sign the agreement.
Press freedom advocates say the Pentagon’s rules go beyond past disputes over individual press badges, giving the department sweeping power to revoke access from reporters based on the stories they pursue. “The Pentagon’s press access policy is unlawful because it gives government officials unchecked power over who gets a credential and who doesn’t, something the First Amendment prohibits,” said Gabe Rottman, vice president of policy at the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press.