NYTimes sues the Government over new Pentagon restrictions on information available for press reporting

NEW YORK, November 4 (C'est Vrai) — The New York Times has sued the Government over the Pentagon's new restrictions on media access. The new restrictions will prohibit the press from reporting about Government information that's not been authorised for release, even if the information is unclassified. Press associations have condemned the new rules and argued that the agreement that the Government was asking the media to sign would violate basic tenets of transparency.

Further Reading :

• New York Times Sues Pentagon Over First Amendment Rights [The New York Times]
  Dec. 4, 2025 — The lawsuit said the Defense Department’s new set of rules for journalists “violates the Constitution’s guarantees of due process, freedom of speech and freedom of the press.”
• New York Times sues Pentagon over press access [Reuters]
  Dec. 4, 2025 — The New York Times sued the U.S. Department of Defense and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth on Thursday in an effort to force the Pentagon to abandon its restrictive new press policy, the latest attempt by a U.S. news organization to reclaim access to government spaces.
• Pentagon places further restrictions on journalists' access [NBC News]
  Sept. 20, 2025 — Defense Department officials said in a memo that journalists who report information not approved by the government will have press credentials revoked.

Source Documents :

• NYTimes et al v. U.S. Dep't of Defense et al (1:25-cv-04218) : GIBSON DUNN & CRUTCHER, LLP
  The lawsuit said the Defense Department’s new set of rules for journalists “violates the Constitution’s guarantees of due process, freedom of speech and freedom of the press.”

Key Words :

• Freedom of the press, speech, and religion
• Peter B. Hegseth
• Sean Parnell
• The New York Times
• U.S. Department of War