Judge blocks Pentagon’s latest bid to limit press access in scathing ruling | CNN Politics

A federal judge on Thursday blocked the Pentagon’s latest bid to limit press access, tearing into the Department of Defense in a stinging ruling that warned “suppression of political speech is the mark of an autocracy, not a democracy.” US District Judge Paul Friedman blasted the department for attempting an end-run around his decision voiding parts of a restrictive press policy rolled out by Secretary Pete Hegseth last year, saying the Pentagon had flouted his ruling when it quickly implemented a tighter policy. “The Department cannot simply reinstate an unlawful policy under the guise of taking ‘new’ action and expect the court to look the other way,” Friedman wrote in the ruling in a case brought by The New York Times. Under the new policy, Friedman said, the Pentagon “has invoked slightly different language” but is still violating the constitutional rights of national security reporters who have long been granted access to the department’s sprawling headquarters in Northern Virginia. “The curtailment of First Amendment rights is dangerous at any time, and even more so in a time of war,” the appointee of former President Bill Clinton wrote. “Suppression