By Jacob Rosen
Updated April 9, 2026 / CBS News
A federal judge ruled the Defense Department violated a court order to ease restrictions on reporters who cover the Pentagon and blocked a new press policy the department issued last month.
U.S. District Judge Paul Friedman again sided with The New York Times and reporter Julian Barnes, who sued last year arguing the Pentagon’s policy violated the First and Fifth Amendments and due process. In March, Friedman struck down some of the Pentagon’s strict controls on how journalists with Pentagon press passes are allowed to report, a move that prompted several news organizations, including CBS News, to leave the building.
Friedman found the Pentagon failed to comply with his March order and said a revised press policy the department instituted afterward was also unlawful. The new rules had expelled all reporters from the building unless escorted by government personnel and removed media outlets’ office spaces from the Pentagon.
“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. “Nor can the Department take steps to circumvent the Court’s injunction and expect the Court to turn a blind eye.”
In his March opinion, Friedman halted some of the most onerous restrictions, including a provision that allowed reporters who “solicit” classified or sensitive information from military personnel to be deemed security risks and barred from the building. He also struck down language that treated Pentagon access as a “privilege” rather than recognizing press access in a manner consistent with constitutional protections. Some restrictions remain in place, such as rules limiting where reporters may go in the Pentagon without an escort.
The March ruling ordered the Pentagon to reinstate Barnes’s press pass and those of several other Times reporters. It is unclear how broadly reinstatements will apply to other news organizations.
“The ruling powerfully vindicates both the Court’s authority and the First Amendment’s protections of independent journalism,” attorney Theodore Boutrous Jr., who represents The New York Times, said in a statement.
The Department of Defense said it disagrees with the ruling and intends to appeal. Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell wrote on social media that the department “has at all times complied with the Court’s Order — it reinstated the PFACs [Pentagon Facility Alternate Credential] of every journalist identified in the Order and issued a materially revised policy that addressed every concern the Court identified in its March 20 Opinion.” Parnell said the department remains committed to press access while ensuring safety and security at the Pentagon Reservation.
Friedman’s order on Thursday requires a Pentagon official “with personal knowledge” to file a sworn declaration by April 16 describing steps taken to ensure compliance with the court’s orders. He criticized efforts by senior officials to control information reaching the public, writing, “The Department…attempt[ed] to dictate the information received by the American people, to control the message so that the public hears and sees only what the Secretary and the Trump Administration want them to hear and see. The Constitution demands better. The American public demands better, too.”