New York Times sues Pentagon a second time over press access policy

Politics New York Times sues Pentagon a second time, calling press access policy "patently unconstitutional" May 18, 2026 / 7:39 PM EDT / CBS/AP Add CBS News on Google 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.The older policy required reporters to sign onto a host of restrictions in order to maintain daily access to the Pentagon, including one that suggested reporters who "solicit" sensitive information from military personnel could be deemed a security risk and expelled from the building. Many news outlets — including CBS News, ABC News, NBC News, CNN and Fox News — declined to sign the policy and were forced to vacate the Pentagon. U.S. District Judge Paul L. Frie...