New York Attorney General Letitia James has filed a “friend of the court” brief to support the New York Times in its lawsuit against the Trump administration’s Department of Defense. The newspaper last month filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia naming as defendants: The Department of Defense, also known as The Department of War; Pete Hegseth, secretary of defense in his official capacity; and Sean Parnell, chief Pentagon spokesman in his official capacity.
The lawsuit is seeking to overturn new policies put into effect by the Pentagon’s leadership that effectively bar journalists from accessing the Pentagon. In the fall of last year, new conditions on press access were imposed requiring journalists to agree to new rules severely limiting their abilities to report from the Pentagon, ask questions of sources and publish new information. Journalists were told they would have to sign a paper agreeing to report only what Pentagon leadership has approved for reporting and that violating the agreement could expose them to legal liability.
James points out in her amicus brief that the Pentagon now “locks out the most experienced and principled journalists from the Pentagon and leaves only amateur or semiprofessional reporters with almost no relevant expertise in covering sensitive governmental news with direct access to department officials. Access to timely, reliable, and informed press coverage of the military is critical to the American public, especially given the rise in misinformation flowing on unregulated social media platforms.”
James brief emphasized that “nearly all the news organizations with an established presence in the Pentagon refused to sign the acknowledgment and instead turned in their press credentials, including journalists from outlets as varied as ABC News, Fox News, CBS News, CNN, the Wall Street Journal, and Newsmax.”
In a statement, James said, “The freedom of the press is critically important to our Constitution and our democracy. All Americans, especially families of active duty troops, deserve clear and unbiased information about the military decisions that impact our servicemembers. The administration’s attack on the independence of the press is a clear violation of our Constitution, and I hope the court acts swiftly to protect the First Amendment and strike down this new policy.”
James notes that both the U.S. Constitution and New York state constitution explicitly guarantee the freedom of the press. James urges the court to grant the New York Times’ motion for summary judgment to halt the implementation of DOD’s policy.
