A federal judge ordered the White House on Tuesday to restore The Associated Press’ full access to cover presidential events, ruling on a case that touched at the heart of the First Amendment and affirming that the government cannot punish the news organization for the content of its speech.
U.S. District Judge Trevor N. McFadden, an appointee of Donald Trump, ruled that the government can't retaliate against the AP’s decision not to follow the president’s executive order to rename the Gulf of Mexico. The decision handed the AP a major victory at a time the White House has been challenging the press on several levels — and drew applause from inside the press area at the White House on Tuesday.
“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,” McFadden wrote. “The Constitution requires no less.”
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The AP has been blocked since Feb. 11 from being among the small group of journalists to cover Trump in the Oval Office or aboard Air Force One, with sporadic ability to cover him at events in East Room.
The organization had asked McFadden to rule that Trump had violated AP’s constitutional right to free speech by taking the action because he disagreed with the words that its journalists use. He had earlier declined AP’s request to reverse the changes through an injunction.
It was unclear whether the White House would move to put McFadden’s ruling into effect. McFadden held off on implementing his order immediately and gave the government a week to respond.
