A federal judge has dismantled Pete Hegseth's stranglehold on Pentagon journalism, and the First Amendment won.
US District Judge Paul L. Friedman issued a permanent injunction striking down the most sweeping provisions of the Defence Department's controversial press-access policy, ruling that it violates both the First and Fifth Amendments to the Constitution.
The ruling followed a mass walkout by the Pentagon's established press corps on 15 October 2025, when dozens of journalists from the country's leading news organisations handed back their credentials rather than sign a pledge that would have surrendered editorial independence to the Defence Secretary.
The case, brought by The New York Times and its national security reporter Julian E. Barnes, now sets a legal precedent that directly rebukes the administration's sustained effort to control wartime reporting.
The Defence Department unveiled its revised media-access policy in September 2025 and gave news organisations until 15 October to sign or surrender their Pentagon Facility Alternate Credentials (PFACs). The policy's central provision required credentialed reporters to acknowledge that access could be revoked if they were 'reasonably determined to pose a security or safety risk,' a definition so broad it extended to the solicitation of any unclassified information not formally cleared by Pentagon officials.
The deadline produced one of the most dramatic moments in modern American press history. Reporters from outlets including ABC News, NBC News, CNN, NPR, the Associated Press, Fox News, The Washington Post, and The Times declined to sign. They turned in their badges and left together in a coordinated walkout. Only the far-right network One America News agreed to the terms.
ABC News anchor Jonathan Karl, who has covered the Pentagon for decades, captured the moment in a post on X on 15 October 2025: 'The journalists who cover the Pentagon had to choose today between signing a pledge that would make it impossible to do independent journalism and turning in their Pentagon press badges. Almost all of them turned in their badges and left the building.'
The journalists who cover the Pentagon had to choose today between signing a pledge that would make it impossible to do independent journalism and turning in their Pentagon press badges. Almost all of them turned in their badges and left the building. pic.twitter.com/xqO3HTsY9A
Hegseth's office, now operating under the rebranded Department of War, replaced the outgoing journalists with pro-administration media figures. Chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell posted on X that the new outlets 'circumvent the lies of the mainstream media and get real news to the American people,' calling the departing journalists 'activists who masquerade as journalists,' language later cited directly in Judge Friedman's written opinion.
The Times and Barnes filed suit on 4 December 2025 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, naming the Defence Department, Hegseth, and Parnell as defendants across seven constitutional counts — two under the Fifth Amendment, three under the First, one under both, and one under the Administrative Procedure Act. They moved for summary judgment on 5 January 2026.