News Outlets Pressure Pentagon to Restore Access After Court Ruling

A federal judge ruled on Friday that key parts of the Pentagon’s press policy were unconstitutional.

A group representing journalists who cover the Defense Department is seeking the immediate restoration of press access for its members after a federal judge ruled on Friday that key parts of the department’s media policy were unconstitutional.

“Our clients and the public face ongoing, irreparable harm,” David Schulz, counsel for the group, the Pentagon Press Association, wrote in a letter, “so long as the experienced military reporters of the P.P.A. are excluded from the Pentagon while active combat operations are being conducted in multiple arenas.”

The Pentagon last year imposed new rules that empowered it to declare journalists “security risks” and revoke their press passes if they engaged in any conduct that the department believed threatened national security. Rather than comply with those restrictions, dozens of journalists surrendered their press passes and continued covering the military outside the Pentagon.