By Mike Scarcella
WASHINGTON, March 30 (Reuters) – A U.S. judge sharply questioned the Pentagon on Monday over whether it defied a court order protecting journalists’ access, in a closely watched clash over press freedom and executive power.
U.S. District Judge Paul Friedman expressed concerns at a hearing in Washington that the Defense Department’s revised restrictions for journalists covering the seat of U.S. military power went even further than earlier rules he had blocked.
“Is this Kafka? What’s going on here?” the judge asked after reading a declaration by the New York Times describing reporters’ difficulty accessing areas of the Pentagon. He did not issue a ruling but said the government must respond to the newspaper’s declaration.
The Pentagon under Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said in October that journalists could be deemed security risks and have their press badges revoked if they solicited unauthorized military personnel to disclose classified, and in some cases unclassified, information.
Of the 56 news outlets in the Pentagon Press Association, only one agreed to sign an acknowledgment of the policy, with reporters who did not sign surrendering their press passes to the Pentagon.
Friedman ruled on March 20 that the policy violated protections for news gathering and due process in the U.S. Constitution. He issued an injunction requiring reporters’ credentials to be restored immediately.
The New York Times, the lead plaintiff that sued to challenge Hegseth’s policy, told Friedman last week that the Pentagon had not complied with his order but instead released what it called a new “interim” policy defying the court ruling.
The policy, the Times said, bars reporters with press passes from entering the building without an escort, sets up rules governing when a reporter can offer anonymity to a source and prohibits reporters from knowingly “inducing” sources to share unauthorized information.
“Nothing will stop them. Not a court order. Not an injunction,” a lawyer for the Times, Ted Boutrous, told Friedman at Monday’s hearing. He said the department embarked on a “mad scramble” not to comply with the court’s prior order but to violate it.
The Pentagon has argued it is in compliance with the court’s order. Justice Department lawyer Sarah Welch at Monday’s hearing said the department crafted a “materially different” policy that should be upheld.
Welch said its move to relocate the Pentagon press corps to a separate annex was part of a prior workspace plan that was announced last year. She asked the court to allow additional written arguments to defend its revised rules.
The Pentagon Press Association said in a court filing that the Pentagon’s new rules are “a clear violation of the letter and spirit” of Friedman’s ruling. Reuters is a member of the association, which includes the Times, ABC News, Fox News and other outlets.
(Reporting by Mike Scarcella; Editing by David Bario, Howard Goller and Alistair Bell)
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