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The New York Times asked a federal judge on Monday to require the Pentagon to comply with an order blocking enforcement of a policy limiting news reporters’ access to the Defense Department’s headquarters, arguing the Pentagon responded by adopting a revised “interim” approach. The Times said the Defense Department implemented a new credential process after U.S. District Judge Paul Friedman’s March 20 ruling, which the newspaper argued was designed to circumvent the court decision rather than follow it.
Friedman did not immediately rule from the bench after a second round of arguments from lawyers for the newspaper and the Trump administration. The judge earlier ruled for the Times on the constitutionality of a Pentagon credential policy, ordering Pentagon officials to reinstate the press credentials of seven Times reporters and emphasizing that his decision applied to “all regulated parties.” MSI previously reported on that ruling.
Times attorney Theodore Boutrous told the court that the Pentagon responded to Friedman’s order by imposing a revised policy that adds what he characterized as “radical new restrictions” on journalists. Boutrous said the restrictions meant the Pentagon had “only made things worse.”
Government attorney Sarah Welch said the Defense Department’s revised media-access approach includes several “safe harbors” for reporters engaged in routine newsgathering. Welch told Friedman that the department has fully complied in good faith with the March 20 order, framing the revised policy as consistent with the court’s directives.
The Times argued that the Pentagon’s revised approach created new obstacles for credentialed reporters seeking to do reporting on site. In addition to the newspaper’s broader claim that the Pentagon violated the judge’s order, Times national security reporter Julian Barnes told the court that Pentagon staff explained to him and his colleagues last week how the new credentials would provide access to a new press area located in the Pentagon library.
Barnes said the only way to get to the library was through a corridor or by using a shuttle bus that the reporters did not have permission to use. The judge responded with skepticism about the arrangement, saying: “How weird is that? Is it Catch-22? Is it Kafka? What’s going on here?”
Friedman heard the dispute against the backdrop of earlier reporting access fights. The filing and testimony described that in October, reporters from mainstream news organizations walked out of the Pentagon rather than accept the new rules at that time. The Times sued the Pentagon and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in December to challenge the policy.
In arguing the Pentagon violated the March 20 decision, the Times said in court papers that the administration’s revised “interim” policy violated the judge’s order “both in letter and spirit,” including by barring credentialed reporters from entering the building without an escort. The newspaper’s attorneys also said the latest policy imposes rules governing when reporters can offer anonymity to sources.
The Pentagon and the Justice Department took the opposite position, telling Friedman that the revised policy complied with the order. Justice Department attorneys wrote that the plaintiffs’ request would improperly extend the judge’s injunction, saying that the order “does not say that, and this Court should not read it to say that.” Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell previously said the administration would appeal Friedman’s March 20 decision.
A Pentagon Press Association lawyer also argued for the policy’s constitutionality and described it as preserving provisions Friedman had deemed unconstitutional while adding new restrictions for credential holders. The association attorney said the interim policy moves reporters’ workspace to an annex facility outside the Pentagon and prohibits reporters from moving within the Pentagon without an escort, which the attorney said further limits their ability to conduct journalism in the forum designated for it.
Journalists from outlets that agreed to the policy have continued reporting under the revised credential system, while reporters who refused to consent to the Pentagon’s new rules—including from the AP—continued reporting, according to the court record. Friedman, nominated to the bench by Democratic President Bill Clinton, said in his March 20 order that recent U.S. military operations in Venezuela and Iran showed the need for public access to information about government activity.