A federal judge has ordered the White House to remove its block on the Associate Press’ access to media events. The White House removed the AP from events after it refused to use the term “Gulf of America.”
U.S. District Court Judge Trevor McFadden noted that the order “does not limit the various permissible reasons the Government may have for excluding journalists from limited-access events. It does not mandate that all eligible journalists, or indeed any journalists at all, be given access to the President or nonpublic government spaces. It does not prohibit government officials from freely choosing which journalists to sit down with for interviews or which ones’ questions they answer.”
“No, the Court simply holds that under the First Amendment, if the Government opens its doors to some journalists—be it to the Oval Office, the East Room, or elsewhere—it cannot then shut those doors to other journalists because of their viewpoints. The Constitution requires no less,” the judge wrote.
“The Court does not order the Government to grant the AP permanent access to the Oval Office, the East Room, or any other media event,” McFadden wrote in the filing. “It does not bestow special treatment upon the AP. Indeed, the AP is not necessarily entitled to the ‘first in line every time’ permanent press pool access it enjoyed under the WHCA [White House Correspondents’ Association]. But it cannot be treated worse than its peer wire services either.”
“The Court merely declares that the AP’s exclusion has been contrary to the First Amendment, and it enjoins the Government from continuing down that unlawful path,” the filing said.
AP spokeswoman Lauren Easton said the outlet is “gratified by the court’s decision.”
“Today’s ruling affirms the fundamental right of the press and public to speak freely without government retaliation,” Easton stated. “This is a freedom guaranteed for all Americans in the U.S. Constitution.”
