By Jacob Rosen
Updated April 9, 2026 / CBS News
A federal judge ruled that the Department of Defense violated a court order meant to loosen restrictions on reporters who cover the Pentagon, and he blocked a revised 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 rules infringed on the First and Fifth Amendments and denied due process. In March, Friedman struck down several of the Defense Department’s strict controls on journalists holding Pentagon press credentials; that decision prompted multiple news organizations, including CBS News, to exit the building.
Friedman concluded the Pentagon did not comply with his March order and found the updated policy the department adopted afterward to be unlawful. The revised rules had effectively expelled all reporters from the building unless they were escorted by government personnel and removed media outlets’ office spaces inside 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 decision, Friedman barred several of the most burdensome provisions, including a clause that labeled reporters who “solicit” classified or sensitive information from military personnel as potential security risks and subject to removal. He also struck down language that treated Pentagon access as a “privilege” rather than recognizing press access consistent with constitutional protections. Some limitations remain in effect, such as rules that restrict where reporters may go inside the Pentagon without an escort.
The March order directed the Pentagon to reinstate Barnes’s press pass and those of several other Times reporters; it remains uncertain how broadly reinstatements will be applied to journalists from other organizations.
“The ruling powerfully vindicates both the Court’s authority and the First Amendment’s protections of independent journalism,” said Theodore Boutrous Jr., an attorney for The New York Times.
The Department of Defense said it disagrees with Friedman’s ruling and plans 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 added the department remains committed to press access while ensuring safety and security at the Pentagon Reservation.
Friedman’s latest order requires a Pentagon official “with personal knowledge” to file a sworn declaration by April 16 explaining the steps taken to comply with the court’s orders. He criticized efforts by senior officials to control the flow of information, writing that 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.”