Federal Judge Rules Against Pentagon’s Free Speech-Defying Press Policy

In 2026, the Trump administration’s Pentagon unveiled a new, freedom-of-the-press-defying policy that reporters cannot obtain or solicit any information, whether classified or unclassified, unless it is pre-approved by the Department of Defense. And when virtually every mainstream media outlet — including conservative outlets like Newsmax and Fox News — responded to the Pentagon’s new media requirement with a resounding “hell no,” the administration simply replaced reputable news sources like the Washington Post, the New York Times, the Associated Press, CNN, the Atlantic, the Wall Street Journal, NPR, and Reuters with a bunch of right-wing bloggers and podcasters like the fine folks at the Gateway Pundit, the Post Millennial, Turning Point USA’s Frontline, and some media station started by the My Pillow guy who was found liable in a defamation lawsuit for lying in the media.

Anyway, the New York Times was having none of the Trump administration’s unconstitutional MAGAtry, so it sued the Pentagon, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell over their press policy in December, and, last week, a federal judge sided with the outlet.

From NPR:

In the ruling late Friday, U.S. District Court Judge Paul L. Friedman sided with the Times, writing that the First Amendment was designed to empower the press to publish information in the public interest “free of any official proscription.”

“Those who drafted the First Amendment believed that the nation’s security requires a free press and an informed people and that such security is endangered by governmental suppression of political speech,” Friedman wrote. “That principle has preserved the nation’s security for almost 250 years. It must not be abandoned now.”

In a statement, a Times spokesperson said the ruling marked a welcome enforcement of the free press’ constitutionally protected rights.

“Americans deserve visibility into how their government is being run, and the actions the military is taking in their name and with their tax dollars. Today’s ruling reaffirms the right of The Times and other independent media to continue to ask questions on the public’s behalf,” said the statement from spokesperson Charlie Stadtlander.

What’s really going on here is clear: the most demonstrably incompetent administration, arguably, in any of our lifetimes, keeps publicly embarrassing itself, media outlets are reporting about it, and shouting “fake news” at every negative headline that isn’t serving to reverse its record-low approval ratings, so it tried to control the press instead, and if not, ban it altogether. And, once again, federal judges are having to step in and remind President Donald Trump, Hegseth and the rest of the MAGA regime that they are obligated to follow the Constitution they keep trying to side-step.