The New York Times has filed a lawsuit against the Pentagon over new rules restricting how journalists cover the US military, claiming they violate the First Amendment.
The lawsuit, filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Washington, alleges that the 21-page agreement that Pentagon journalists were asked to sign in October was illegal and unconstitutional. Many journalists, including six from the New York Times, turned in their access credentials to the Pentagon in protest of the policy.
The new Defense Department policy “seeks to restrict the ability of journalists to do what they have always done: ask questions of government employees and gather information to report stories to the public that go beyond official pronouncements,” the lawsuit alleges.
The lawsuit states that it will “vigorously defend against violations of these rights, just as we have long done under administrations that oppose scrutiny and accountability.”
“The policy is an attempt to exert control over information the government doesn’t like, in violation of the right of the free press to seek information under its First and Fifth Amendment rights protected by the Constitution,” a New York Times spokesperson said in a statement.
The lawsuit names the Department of Defense, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell as defendants. The action is brought by the New York Times Company and its defense reporter.
The Defense Department, now known as the War Department, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Pentagon has said the policy is not an attempt to attack any particular news outlet, but rather “prevents leaks that harm operational security and national security. It’s common sense.”
Multiple media outlets strongly opposed the new rules, and five major broadcasters, including NBC News, said in October that they would not sign the department’s agreement.
The lawsuit alleges that the Pentagon policy was “exactly the type of restrictive speech and press scheme that the Supreme Court and the D.C. Circuit have recognized violates the First Amendment.”
The rules prohibit the collection or publication of any information not authorized by the government, including declassified information and off-the-record conversations, whether collected on or off Pentagon grounds. Failure to comply with the rules could result in suspension of access to the Pentagon.
Earlier this year, the Department of Defense announced it would remove several media outlets from its internal workstations as part of what it called an “annual media rotation program.” Several outlets rotated into those positions, including Breitbart News, One America News Network, New York Post and HuffPost.
