Pentagon Can Require Reporters to be Escorted During Appeal Process, Judges Rule
An appeals court ruled that the Defense Department can require journalists to be escorted on Pentagon grounds while the Trump administration appeals a judge’s decision.
The ruling by a divided three-judge panel from the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit is not the final decision in The New York Times' lawsuit over a new Pentagon press credential policy.
The panel's majority opinion stated that the administration is likely to succeed in showing that the policy’s escort requirement is legally valid.
Circuit Judges Justin Walker, J.
Michelle Childs, and Bradley Garcia heard the case, with Childs dissenting from the 2-1 majority.
Friedman found that the Pentagon’s new credential policy violated journalists’ constitutional rights to free speech and due process.
He said Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s team had tried to evade his March 20 ruling by putting in new rules that expel all reporters from the building unless guided by escorts.
The Defense Department spokesperson, Sean Parnell, stated that it welcomes the panel’s decision.
Parnell mentioned that unescorted access to the Pentagon has led to unauthorized disclosures of sensitive and classified national defense information.
The lawyer for The Times stated that the panel’s ruling is a narrow preliminary one and casts no doubt on the strength of the newspaper’s constitutional arguments.
The panel's majority opinion stated that the administration is likely to succeed in showing that the policy’s escort requirement is legally valid.
Circuit Judges Justin Walker, J.
Michelle Childs, and Bradley Garcia heard the case, with Childs dissenting from the 2-1 majority.
Friedman found that the Pentagon’s new credential policy violated journalists’ constitutional rights to free speech and due process.
He said Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s team had tried to evade his March 20 ruling by putting in new rules that expel all reporters from the building unless guided by escorts.
The Defense Department spokesperson, Sean Parnell, stated that it welcomes the panel’s decision.
Parnell mentioned that unescorted access to the Pentagon has led to unauthorized disclosures of sensitive and classified national defense information.
The lawyer for The Times stated that the panel’s ruling is a narrow preliminary one and casts no doubt on the strength of the newspaper’s constitutional arguments.
