Pentagon policy limiting independent press access is unlawful, judge rules

By Devan Cole, CNN

(CNN) — A federal judge on Friday voided various parts of a restrictive press policy rolled out by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth last year, ruling that they trampled on the constitutional rights of reporters who seek to cover the US military from within its sprawling headquarters.

The ruling from senior US District Judge Paul Friedman is a major blow to Hegseth’s effort to exert greater control over press coverage and comes as reporting on the Defense Department has ramped up amid the war in Iran and the US operation earlier this year in Venezuela.

It voids several provisions of the new policy that enabled the Pentagon to suspend or revoke credentials based on reporting, but leaves in place other parts of the policy that had been in effect in earlier iterations and were not subject to the legal challenge.

“A primary purpose of the First Amendment is to enable the press to publish what it will and the public to read what it chooses, free of any official proscription,” Friedman, an appointee of former President Bill Clinton, wrote.

“Those who drafted the First Amendment believed that the nation’s security requires a free press and an informed people and that such security is endangered by governmental suppression of political speech,” the judge added. “That principle has preserved the nation’s security for almost 250 years. It must not be abandoned now.”

The New York Times challenged the policy late last year, arguing it violates its First Amendment and due process rights.

The parts of the policy Friedman struck down required beat reporters to sign a pledge not to obtain or use unauthorized material. Scores of news organizations, including the Times and CNN, declined to agree, resulting in reporters being denied press badges that give them access to the Pentagon.

“The Court recognizes that national security must be protected, the security of our troops must be protected, and war plans must be protected,” Friedman wrote. “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.”

CNN has reached out to the Defense Department and New York Times for comment.

This story is breaking and will be updated.

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