Senior Judge Paul Friedman of the US District Court for the DC said Thursday that the #Trump admin’s decision to remove credentialed #reporters from the #Pentagon in response to his ruling striking down a prior #press policy “flouts the Court’s explicit directives & disregards the constitutional principles at the heart” of his March order.

#Hegseth #law #Constitution #FirstAmendment #FreePress #FreeSpeech #journalism #FourthEstate

In a 20-pg opinion, Friedman described a dangerous “curtailment of First Amendment rights,” made “even more so in a time of #war.” The judge said that he has received “dozens of letters & postcards from people across the country” over the past few weeks about what the #FirstAmendment means to them.

#law #Constitution #FreePress #FreeSpeech #press #journalism #FourthEstate #access #Trump #Hegseth #dictatorship #fascism #propaganda

“The Court cannot conclude this Opinion without noting once again what this case is really about: the attempt by the Secretary of #Defense to #dictate the #information received by the American people, to control the message so that the public hears & sees only what the Secretary & the #Trump Administration want them to hear & see,” Friedman appointee wrote.

#law #Constitution #FirstAmendment #FreePress #FreeSpeech #press #journalism #FourthEstate #Hegseth #dictatorship #fascism #propaganda

…The #Defense Dept’s revived #press policy, issued March 23, moved #media offices to a separate building & required credentialed #reporters be escorted by dept personnel while in the #Pentagon.
It also prohibited “intentional inducement of unauthorized disclosure,” & says if a #journalist offers a person anonymity to disclose #information, it would create a “rebuttable presumption” that the reporter knew the employee wasn’t allowed to share it.

#law #Constitution #FirstAmendment #Trump #Hegseth

#Reporters have previously been allowed to #access parts of the #Pentagon without escorts, & had offices in the building.

A #DOJ attorney argued at a March court hearing that the administration “fully complied” with the judge’s order, & that if the NYT wanted to challenge the latest policy, it needed to update its lawsuit.

#law #Constitution #FirstAmendment #FreePress #FreeSpeech #press #journalism #FourthEstate #Trump #Hegseth #dictatorship #fascism #propaganda

But Friedman wrote that the #Defense Dept “cannot simply reinstate an unlawful policy under the guise of taking ‘new’ action & expect the Court to look the other way.”

“Nor can the Department take steps to circumvent the Court’s injunction & expect the Court to turn a blind eye. But that is exactly what the defendants have done by closing the Correspondents’ Corridor & imposing an escort requirement,” he said.

#law #Constitution #FirstAmendment #FreePress #journalism #access #Trump #Hegseth

The judge reasoned that the Pentagon’s renewed #press policy amounts to a “clarification” of restrictions he already found were #unconstitutional.

And he was unpersuaded by the admin’s argument that the NYT needs to “start over while the Court stands idly by,” so long as the reinstated policy “does not reinstate the exact words” of the one he struck down.

#law #Constitution #FirstAmendment #FreePress #FreeSpeech #journalism #FourthEstate #Trump #Hegseth #dictatorship #fascism #propaganda