A federal appeals court on Monday allowed the Pentagon to reinstate its ban on journalists being able to enter the building without an escort, marking the latest in a back-and-forth battle between Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and the press.
After the Pentagon moved to restrict access for news outlets that refused to abide by new government reporting rules, a judge struck it down. The Pentagon then announced a broader ban on all journalists entering the main building without an escort, citing safety reasons.
The lower court judge said that the new ban violated his initial order — but the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia said that’s not true. It said the broader ban was a new policy that should have been treated as such by the lower court.
“On this record, the Department is likely to succeed in its argument that the escort requirement in particular is a new, generally applicable requirement that is not invalid for violating the district court’s summary judgment order or the constitutional principles underlying it,” the appeals court said in an unsigned opinion.
Judges Justin Walker, a Trump appointee, and Brad Garcia, a Biden pick, said the Pentagon had important national security interests that must be respected at this stage of the case.
Their ruling will last while the case develops further.
Judge Michelle Childs, another Biden appointee, dissented, saying she felt the lower court was on firm ground in thinking the Pentagon’s new policy was an end-run around the lower court’s initial ruling.
She said the original district order had been to reinstate the press credentials of seven New York Times reporters who’d been booted.
She said even if the reasoning was different, the new policy still prevented them from getting back inside the Pentagon.
The majority, in its opinion, said the Pentagon has made clear it won’t use the escort policy to deny press pass holders access.
But Judge Childs said reporting will suffer without unfettered access.
“Reporters can hardly verify sources, gather information or speak candidly with department personnel with an escort looming over their shoulders,” she wrote.
