Pentagon defies court order on press access with circumventing 'Interim Policy'

The event recorded here is the Department of Defense's circumvention of a standing federal court order — a violation found by the court itself. On March 20, 2026, U.S. District Judge Paul Friedman of the District of Columbia ruled that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's Pentagon press policy violated the First and Fifth Amendments, struck down its challenged provisions, and ordered the press credentials of seven New York Times journalists restored. Within days, the Department issued a new "Interim Policy" that closed the Correspondents' Corridor — the press workspace inside the Pentagon where journalists have worked for decades — and required credentialed reporters to be escorted at all times inside the building.

On April 9, 2026, Judge Friedman ruled that the Interim Policy violated his March order. "The Department cannot simply reinstate an unlawful policy under the guise of taking 'new' action and expect the court to look the other way," he wrote, finding the corridor closure and escort ban "not security measures or efforts to make good on prior commitments but rather transparent attempts to negate the impact of this court's order." With the Interim Policy, he wrote, the Department "has invoked slightly different language to achieve the same unconstitutional result," adding that "suppression of political speech is the mark of an autocracy, not a democracy." The court barred enforcement of the new policy against the Times' Pentagon reporters and ordered the Department to restore their physical access to the building. Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said the Department "has at all times complied with the Court's Order" and announced an appeal.

The underlying policy dates to fall 2025, when nearly the entire Pentagon press corps surrendered credentials rather than accept rules allowing officials to revoke press passes over routine newsgathering; The New York Times sued in December 2025. On April 27, 2026, a three-judge panel of the D.C. Circuit stayed the portion of the district court's ruling prohibiting the escort requirement while the appeal proceeds, leaving the rest of the April 9 ruling in effect.