The current Pentagon press corps is made up of mostly conservative outlets that agreed to the policy

A policy limiting journalists’ access to the Pentagon is depriving Americans of vital information about U.S. military operations while the country is at war, a New York Times attorney argued Friday while urging a judge to block the new rules.

“It’s more important than ever for the public to know as much as they can,” Times attorney Theodore Boutrous told U.S. District Judge Paul Friedman.

Friedman didn’t immediately rule on whether to order the Pentagon to reinstate press credentials for reporters who walked out of the building last October rather than agree to the new rules.

But the judge’s remarks during the first hearing for the newspaper’s lawsuit against the Defense Department suggested he was skeptical of key arguments in the government’s defense of the policy.