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New York Times Case Against Pentagon Will Move Quickly

NYT > Business > Media · Erik Wemple · last updated

The lawsuit, over the Defense Department’s new rules for journalists, is headed for oral arguments in March.

The New York Times urged the U.S. District Court in Washington on Monday to rule in its favor in a case that the company brought last month against the Pentagon and that is now on track to be heard by a judge in March.

The Times has said restrictions imposed by the Pentagon in October infringe on the constitutional rights of journalists. The company largely echoed those arguments in a filing late on Monday, saying the Defense Department’s policy “aims to suppress independent journalism that seeks to report any information beyond what the department has approved for public release.”

The Times’s lawsuit is on a fast track because the two sides filed a joint motion on Dec. 17 seeking to skip discovery proceedings and set up a schedule for summary judgment. The case is headed for oral arguments on March 6 in front of Judge Paul Friedman.

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