Appeals Court Allows Pentagon to Require Escorted Journalist Access During Appeal

WASHINGTON -- The Defense Department can require journalists to be escorted on Pentagon grounds while the Trump administration appeals a judge's decision to block its enforcement of a press access policy challenged by The New York Times, an appeals court ruled Monday. The ruling by a divided three-judge panel from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit isn't the final decision in the newspaper's lawsuit over a new Pentagon press credential policy. But the panel's majority opinion said the administration is likely to succeed in showing that the policy's escort requirement is legally valid. The panel granted the government's request to suspend an April 9 decision by U.S. District Judge Paul Friedman, who ruled that the Defense Department was violating his earlier order to restore access to the Pentagon for reporters. Circuit Judges Justin Walker, J. Michelle Childs and Bradley Garcia heard the case, with Childs dissenting from the 2-1 majority. "Reporters can hardly verify sources, gather information, or speak candidly with Department personnel with an escort looming over their shoulders," Childs wrote. Friedman found that the Pentagon's new credential policy violated journalists' constitutional rights to free speech and due process. He said Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's team had tried to evade his March 20 ruling by putting in new rules that expel all reporters from the building unless guided by escorts. Defense Department spokesperson Sean Parnell said it welcomes the panel's decision and looks forward to arguing the merits of its "full case" before the same panel. In a statement posted on social media, Parnell said unescorted access to the Pentagon has led to the "regular unauthorized disclosure of sensitive and classified national defense information." "Since implementing the current access policy, the Department has seen a meaningful reduction in these unauthorized disclosures, which when they occur can endanger the lives of service members, intelligence personnel, and our allies," he wrote. Theodore Boutrous, an attorney for The Times, said the panel's ruling is "a narrow, preliminary one" and "casts no doubt" on the strength of the newspaper's constitutional arguments. "We look forward to defending the full scope of the district court's rulings in The Times's favor in this appeal," Boutrous said in a statement. President Donald Trump, a Republican, nominated Walker. President Joe Biden, a Democrat, nominated Garcia and Childs. Friedman was nominated by Democratic President Bill Clinton.