The Daily Fuckup

A federal judge on Thursday said the Pentagon had not complied with his earlier order requiring the Defense Department to restore reporters’ access under lawful terms. The ruling came after the department revised its press policy, but U.S. District Judge Paul Friedman said the new version still did not satisfy the court’s March 20 order. ([apnews.com](https://apnews.com/article/6487d7bf4a4a87ad1bf9864a275b5239?utm_source=openai))

The fight is over Pentagon press credentials and the conditions attached to reporting inside the building. In March, Friedman blocked the government from enforcing a policy that he said failed to give reporters fair notice of what conduct could cost them their credentials. He then ordered the Pentagon to reinstate press access, including for reporters whose credentials had been pulled under the new rules. ([apnews.com](https://apnews.com/article/dc7a69b7e7c3f618b3879d9cafec9b25?utm_source=openai))

By the time of the April 9 ruling, the Pentagon had changed its approach, but the judge said that did not amount to compliance. The dispute centered in part on escorted movement through the Pentagon and the removal of reporters from Correspondents’ Corridor offices to an annex that had not yet opened. Friedman’s ruling did not say the department had intentionally defied the court; it said the department still had not met the requirements of the earlier order. ([apnews.com](https://apnews.com/article/6487d7bf4a4a87ad1bf9864a275b5239?utm_source=openai))

The practical effect is another setback for the administration’s effort to tighten control over access to one of the government’s most closely watched institutions. The Pentagon can keep arguing that its revised rules are lawful, but the court has now said the changes did not cure the problem he identified in March. For now, the case leaves the department with the same basic question it faced before: whether it will rewrite the policy in a way that actually restores access, or keep testing how far it can push the limits before a judge stops it again. ([apnews.com](https://apnews.com/article/6487d7bf4a4a87ad1bf9864a275b5239?utm_source=openai))