New York Times accuses Pentagon of flouting judge’s order blocking its press access policy

US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth at the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia.

Photo: Getty Images / TNS The Pentagon has flouted a court order blocking it from enforcing a policy limiting news reporters’ access to the Defence Department’s headquarters, a lawyer for The New York Times asserted on Monday in urging a federal judge to compel the government’s compliance with the 10-day-old order.

US District Judge Paul Friedman did not immediately rule from the bench after hearing a second round of arguments from lawyers for the newspaper and the Trump administration.

The New York Times claims Pentagon officials have implemented a revised press policy that circumvents the judge’s March 20 ruling.

Friedman sided with The New York Times earlier this month in deciding that the Pentagon’s new credential policy violated journalists’ constitutional rights to free speech and due process.

He ordered Pentagon officials to reinstate the press credentials of seven Times reporters and stressed that his decision applies to “all regulated parties”.

New York Times lawyer Theodore Boutrous said the Pentagon responded to Friedman’s order by imposing a new, revised policy that imposes “radical new restrictions” on journalists. “They’ve only made things worse,” Boutrous said.

Government lawyer Sarah Welch said the Defence Department’s revised policy on media access to the Pentagon includes several “safe harbours” protecting reporters engaging in routine forms of news gathering. “The department has fully complied in good faith with that [March 20] order,” Welch told the judge.

In a court filing on Sunday, The New York Times national security reporter Julian Barnes said Pentagon staff also explained to him and his colleagues last week that their new credentials would give them access a new press area located in the Pentagon library.

But the only way for the reporters to access the library is through a corridor or on a shuttle bus that they did not have permission to use, Barnes noted - prompting a pointed response from Friedman. “How weird is that?” the judge said. “Is it Catch-22?

Is it Kafka?

What’s going on here?” A sign for The New York Times hangs above the entrance to its building in New York.

Photo: AP In October, reporters from mainstream news outlets walked out of the building rather than agree to the new rules.

The New York Times sued the Pentagon and Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth in December to challenge the policy.

The newspaper’s lawyers accused the Pentagon

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