Washington– the Ministry of Defense It could ask to accompany journalists to the Pentagon while the Trump administration appeals a judge’s decision to block its implementation of a press access policy that was challenged by The New York Times, an appeals court. Rule Monday.
The ruling by a divided three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit is not the final decision in Newspaper suit Regarding the Pentagon’s new press credentials policy. But the panel’s majority opinion said the administration was likely to succeed in showing that the policy’s accompaniment requirement was legally valid.
The committee granted the government’s request for a comment April 9 decision by U.S. District Judge Paul Friedmanwhich ruled that the Defense Department was violating his previous order restoring access to the Pentagon to reporters.
Circuit Judges Justin Walker, J. Michelle Childs, and Bradley Garcia heard the case, with Childs dissenting for a 2-1 vote.
“Reporters cannot verify sources, gather information, or speak frankly with administration staff with a watch looming over their shoulders,” Childs wrote.
Friedman found that the Pentagon’s new accreditation policy violates journalists’ constitutional rights to freedom of expression and due process. He said Defense Minister Pete Hegseth’s team had tried to evade the March 20 ruling by putting in place new rules that would expel all reporters from the building unless they were accompanied by escorts.
MoD spokesman Sean Parnell said it welcomed the committee’s decision and looked forward to discussing the merits of the “full case” before the same committee. In a statement posted on social media, Parnell said the unescorted entry into the Pentagon led to the “systematic, unauthorized disclosure of sensitive and classified national defense information.”
“Since implementing the current access policy, the Department has seen a measurable reduction in unauthorized disclosures, which when they occur can put the lives of service members, intelligence personnel, and our allies at risk,” he wrote.
Theodore Boutros, a lawyer for The Times, said the committee’s ruling is a “limited preliminary ruling” 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 favor of The Times on this appeal,” Boutros said in a statement.
Republican President Donald Trump nominated Walker. Democratic President Joe Biden nominated Garcia and Childs. Friedman was nominated by Democratic President Bill Clinton.