On Friday, a federal judge ruled that the Pentagon’s restrictions on news outlets violate the Constitution and ordered the Pentagon to reissue press credentials to seven journalists from The New York Times. Following this ruling, Brent Skorup, a legal fellow in the Cato Institute’s Robert A. Levy Center for Constitutional Studies, released the following statement:

For decades, administrations have shaped press pools to encourage more favorable coverage, and like any institution managing access to its own facilities, the government has legitimate proprietary interests in controlling who attends its briefings. For those reasons, courts have been reluctant to compel government officials to speak to media outlets they don’t wish to speak to. But those interests can look like an ‘abridgement of free speech’ when credentialing conditions require journalists to forfeit newsgathering rights as the price of admission, as the court found here. That distinction — between controlling access and controlling the press — is where the constitutional line must be drawn.

To speak with Brent Skorup further on this ruling, contact Cato PR at pr@​cato.​org.