The New York Times v. U.S. Department of Defense
Court: U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia
Date Filed: Jan. 15, 2026
Background: In October 2025, the U.S. Department of Defense implemented a new policy that affords government officials standardless discretion to deny, suspend, or revoke a journalist’s press pass for engaging in lawful newsgathering, including asking sources questions.
Nearly the entire Pentagon press corps refused to sign the policy, choosing instead to turn in their press badges, pack up their belongings, and leave the Pentagon.
The New York Times sued the Pentagon in December 2025. The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, alleges that the Pentagon’s media access policy violates the First and Fifth Amendments.
Our Position: The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press filed a friend-of-the-court brief joined by 23 media industry organizations urging the district court to grant The Times’s motion for summary judgment and reject the Pentagon’s media access policy.
- Journalists asking questions of military personnel fosters a vast amount of reporting in the public interest.
- Journalists cannot agree to a policy that affords the Pentagon standardless discretion to punish reporters for asking questions.
Quote: “This case is another line in the sand when it comes to a free press and it will be decided at a time when the public needs information about Pentagon priorities more than ever,” said Reporters Committee Vice President of Policy Gabe Rottman. “Asking reporters who cover this beat to submit to arbitrary restrictions on their ability to ask questions of public officials is entirely at odds with the First Amendment.”
Related: The Reporters Committee pushed back against an earlier version of the Pentagon’s media access policy, which required journalists to sign a document pledging that they would not report information without the prior approval of government officials, even if it’s unclassified. The Reporters Committee then led negotiations with Pentagon officials in an attempt to loosen the restrictions, resulting in the release of the revised policy that went into effect in October.