New York Times sues Pentagon a second time, calling press access policy "patently unconstitutional"

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: CBS News/AP

May 18, 2026 / 7:39 PM EDT


The New York Times sued the Defense Department on Monday for the second time in five months, arguing a requirement that journalists be escorted while on Pentagon grounds violates the First Amendment. The lawsuit casts the escort policy as part of "a series of escalating steps designed to stop unfavorable coverage" and "dramatically curtails longstanding press access to the Pentagon," in violation of the First and Fifth amendments.

The policy is "an unconstitutional attempt by the Pentagon to prevent independent reporting on military affairs," a Times spokesman, Charlie Stadtlander, said in an email to The Associated Press. "As we have said before: Americans deserve visibility into how their government is being run, and the actions the military is taking in their name and with their tax dollars."

On X, Defense Department spokesperson Sean Parnell called the Times' latest lawsuit "nothing more than an attempt to remove the barriers to them getting their hands on classified information."

The Times lawsuit is another salvo in the escalating tensions between the U.S. media and the second Trump administration, which has played out both in the public arena and at times in the courts. The paper filed Monday's lawsuit after first suing the Pentagon in December over a separate set of rules imposed by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth last fall.

Read more: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/new-york-times-sues-pentagon-second-time-media-restrictions/

---

Link to SUIT - https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.292479/gov.uscourts.dcd.292479.1.0.pdf

REFERENCES

https://www.democraticunderground.com/10143576738
https://www.democraticunderground.com/10143628159 (has earlier ones)

[cstanleytech]

1. Escorts into secured areas would make sense but not everywhere inside once they are through the security at the entrance

Clearly if they are being required to have it everywhere then it's being used in an effort to harass and intimidate them.

[maxsolomon]

2. Sue all you want.

The Courts move glacially and the Regime will appeal any orders up to the SCOTUS. If/when appeals run out, they'll ignore the order.

So much for the Constitution.

[BumRushDaShow]

3. The Pentagon lost the first suit (where they completely excluded almost all but RW loon media)

So as a response instead of useless appeals, they decided to go with this latest half-assed policy of "escorts", triggering the 2nd suit.