By Joseph Pisani and Alexandra Bruell

A federal judge on Friday blocked the Trump administration from enforcing a policy that limits reporters' access to the Pentagon, ruling that key elements of the new rules were unconstitutional.

The decision was a win for the New York Times and one of its reporters, who sued over the policy last year.

U.S. District Judge Paul Friedman said parts of the policy violated the First and Fifth Amendment rights to free speech and due process. The decision said the Pentagon illegally restricted the press credentials of certain reporters and ordered that they be restored.

The Pentagon issued a memo in September that stated reporters needed to sign a document restricting communication with military sources. Many outlets interpreted it as requiring that they agree not to disclose classified or other sensitive information without prior authorization. The guidelines were revised in subsequent weeks, but some major media organizations balked at the final version in October.

Several organizations declined to sign and their reporters forfeited their press passes but continued to report on the Pentagon.

The New York Times and its intelligence reporter Julian E. Barnes sued over the policy in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia in December, naming as defendants the Defense Department, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell. They said the Defense Department policies chilled protected speech that officials might not like.

Friedman, appointed by former President Bill Clinton, said in his ruling Friday that it is "more important than ever that the public have access to information from a variety of perspectives about what its government is doing."

The Justice Department didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

A spokesman for the Times said the ruling "reaffirms the right of the Times and other independent media to continue to ask questions on the public's behalf."

Write to Joseph Pisani at joseph.pisani@wsj.com and Alexandra Bruell at alexandra.bruell@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

March 20, 2026 19:55 ET (23:55 GMT)

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