Judge hammers Hegseth for trying to sneak illegal press rules back in

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11. MaddowBlog-Judge rejects Pentagon effort to restrict press access, says it smacks of 'autocracy'

The Defense Department keeps trying to impose unnecessary limits on journalists. It keeps losing in court.

Judge rejects Pentagon effort to restrict press access, says it smacks of ‘autocracy’

https://www.europesays.com/2909851/

The first time Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s Pentagon tried to impose restrictions on the free press, it lost…

— EUROPE SAYS (@europesays.bsky.social) 2026-04-10T16:00:21+00:00

https://www.ms.now/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/judge-rejects-pentagon-effort-to-restrict-press-access-says-it-smacks-of-autocracy

The first time Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s Pentagon tried to impose restrictions on the free press, it lost in court. When the Defense Department tried again, it failed again. Politico reported:

A federal judge has rejected Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s renewed effort to restrict press access to the Pentagon, calling it an attempt to dictate media coverage that smacks of ‘an autocracy, not a democracy.’

‘The curtailment of First Amendment rights is dangerous at any time, and even more so in time of war,’ U.S. District Judge Paul Friedman wrote Thursday. ‘The Constitution demands better. The American public demands better, too.’

The problem began in earnest last fall when Hegseth and his team, as part of a larger offensive against journalism at the Pentagon, told news organizations that reporters wouldn’t be allowed to cover the department unless they agreed only to report information, including unclassified information, authorized for release by the administration.....

Last month, Friedman ruled against the Pentagon’s restrictive press access policy, concluding that it violated the First Amendment and granted the government overly broad authority to control the press corps’ access. The court decision fueled some hope that conditions at the Defense Department might return to normal.

Those hopes were soon dashed. Hegseth’s team responded to the ruling by imposing new limits on media organizations, including closing a workspace used for years by journalists.

The case quickly went back to court, and the Pentagon lost again.