Chicago – March 22, 2026
A federal judge on Friday voidedvarious parts of a restrictive press policy rolled out by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth last year, ruling that they trampled on the constitutional rights of reporters who seek to cover the US military from within its sprawling headquarters.
The ruling from senior US District Judge Paul Friedman is a major blow to Hegseth’s effort to exert greater control over press coverage and comes as reporting on the Defense Department has ramped up amid the war in Iran and the US operation earlier this year in Venezuela.
It voids several provisions of the new policy that enabled the Pentagon to suspend or revoke credentials based on reporting, but leaves in place other parts of the policy that had been in effect in earlier iterations and were not subject to the legal challenge.
