The New York Times on Thursday filed a lawsuit against the Defense Department over press restrictions that Secretary Pete Hegseth introduced in October that led reporters at most major news organizations to surrender their Pentagon badges.

The lawsuit, which also names Hegseth and Chief Pentagon Spokesman Sean Parnell as defendants, contends that the Pentagon’s media policy is illegal and unconstitutional. Times reporter Julian E. Barnes is also listed as a plaintiff in the lawsuit.

“The policy, which gives Department officials unbridled discretion to immediately suspend and ultimately revoke a journalist’s clearance [Pentagon badge] for engaging in lawful news gathering, both on and off Pentagon grounds, or for reporting any information that Department officials have not approved, is neither reasonable nor viewpoint neutral,” reads a copy of the complaint obtained by News themezone.

“It is exactly the type of restrictive speech and press scheme that the Supreme Court and the D.C. Circuit have recognized violates the First Amendment,” he adds.

The Times also took issue with a provision of the new rules that considered that standard reporting techniques, such as interviewing government employees, could “constitute a request that could lead to the revocation” of a journalist’s credential.

“Such communications are a fundamental journalistic practice and public good—the kind of basic source work that led to some of the biggest news stories in history, including the Pentagon Papers,” the lawsuit states.

The Times is seeking a court order forcing the Pentagon to reinstate the badges of Times reporters and prevent the department from implementing and enforcing its restrictive press policy. It also asks the court to declare provisions that affect the First Amendment rights of its journalists illegal and unconstitutional.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is accused in a lawsuit filed by The New York Times on Thursday.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is accused in a lawsuit filed by The New York Times on Thursday.

Julia Demaree Nikhinson/News

A Times spokesperson told News themezone that the policy marks “an attempt to exert control over information the government doesn’t like, in violation of the free press’s right to seek information under its Constitutionally protected First and Fifth Amendment rights.”

“The Times intends to defend vigorously against the violation of these rights, just as we have long done under administrations that oppose scrutiny and accountability,” the spokesperson said.

The Pentagon vowed to fight the lawsuit in court.

“We are aware of the New York Times’ lawsuit and look forward to addressing these arguments in court,” Parnell said in a statement to News themezone.

Restrictions imposed by the Pentagon in October required journalists to sign a document that would prohibit them from covering news that officials had not authorized release, including unclassified information, among other things. Major news organizations, including News themezone, The Times and conservative outlets News and Newsmax, refused to agree to Hegseth’s demands.

“This is an unacceptable attack on the First Amendment and the principles of a free press,” News themezone editor-in-chief Whitney Snyder said at the time.

Earlier this week, the department held its first press conference since the new restrictions went into effect, hosting pro-Donald Trump media representatives that it described as “the newly minted Pentagon Press Corps,” including former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) and far-right activist Laura Loomer.