美国法官裁定五角大楼违反法院命令，恢复媒体采访权限

US judge says Pentagon violated court order to restore press access

2026-04-09T21:25:18.494Z / Reuters

By Mike Scarcella and Jack Queen

April 9, 2026 9:25 PM UTC Updated 26 mins ago

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Aerial view of the United States military headquarters, the Pentagon, September 28, 2008. REUTERS/Jason Reed/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights, opens new tab

• Judge says Pentagon must comply with prior order restoring press access
• New York Times said Pentagon policy violated First Amendment
• Pentagon claims access policy is lawful and necessary to protect military

WASHINGTON, April 9 (Reuters) – A U.S. judge in Washington ruled on Thursday the Pentagon is hampering journalists ‌in defiance of a court order that required it to restore access to credentialed reporters covering the seat of U.S. military power.

U.S. District Judge Paul Friedman said the Defense Department must comply with his earlier order that sided with The New York Times and ​other news organizations challenging restrictions imposed last year.

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“The Department cannot simply reinstate an unlawful policy under the guise ​of taking ‘new’ action and expect the Court to look the other way,” Friedman wrote in his ⁠ruling, opens new tab. The judge called the Pentagon’s actions a “blatant attempt to circumvent a lawful order of the Court.”

Defense Department spokesman ​Sean Parnell said on social media the Pentagon fully complied with the court’s order and plans to appeal the latest ​ruling.

A New York Times spokesperson praised the ruling in a statement and called the Pentagon’s revised policy a “poorly disguised attempt” to violate the legal rights of journalists.

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Friedman at a March 30 hearing had expressed concerns the Pentagon had issued revised restrictions for journalists earlier in the ​month that went even further than those he previously blocked.

The Pentagon under Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said in October ​that journalists could be deemed security risks and have their press badges revoked if they solicited unauthorized military personnel to disclose classified, ‌and ⁠in some cases unclassified, information.

Of the 56 news outlets in the Pentagon Press Association, only one agreed to sign an acknowledgment of the policy, with reporters who did not sign surrendering their press passes to the Pentagon.

Friedman ruled on March 20 the policy violated protections for news gathering and due process in the U.S. Constitution. He issued an injunction requiring reporters’ ​credentials to be restored immediately.

The ​New York Times, the lead ⁠plaintiff in the suit, told Friedman the Pentagon had not complied with his order but instead released what it called a new “interim” policy defying the court ruling.

The policy, the Times said, ​bars reporters with press passes from entering the building without an escort, sets up ​rules governing when ⁠a reporter can offer anonymity to a source and leaves in place other rules that the court order rejected.

In a court filing in March, the Pentagon denied violating Friedman’s prior order. “The Department was careful to address all of the legal defects that ⁠the court ​perceived in the prior policy,” it said.

The Pentagon Press Association said the ​Pentagon’s new rules are “a clear violation of the letter and spirit” of Friedman’s ruling. Reuters is a member of the association, which includes the ​Times, ABC News, Fox News and other outlets.

Reporting by Mike Scarcella; Editing by David Bario, David Gaffen and Chris Reese

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