CNN, MS NOW, and Politico said Monday they will sue the Trump Administration following President Donald Trump’s decision to ban the three media outlets from the White House.
“This morning, we notified the government that we are filing a lawsuit today to protect our First Amendment rights and defend the principle that the government does not decide what the press reports or publishes,” the companies said in a joint statement.
The outlets said their reporters were denied access to the White House over the weekend and had their badges seized following Trump’s ban issued Friday.
MS NOW reporter Akayla Gardner on Saturday described arriving at the White House campus to discover her badge no longer worked. “The officer asked me to hand over my badge. He said that it was disabled. I asked why I was not able to get inside. He said it was above him,” she recounted.
Reporters from CNN and Politico shared similar experiences.
“Without notice or process, the White House revoked our journalists’ credentials because it objected to our reporting. Left unchallenged, this threatens press freedom and the public’s right to independent journalism free from government interference,” the joint statement from the outlets continued.
TIME has reached out to the White House for comment.
Trump announced the decision Friday afternoon in a Truth Social post that warned other news outlets could face similar restrictions.
“Effective immediately, I am banning Fake News CNN, MSNOW… and Politico… from the White House as a result of their constant ‘reporting’ fake news!” Trump said. “Media Outlets shouldn’t be able to constantly write or report fiction and lies when they’re covering the President of the United States, the Trump Administration, or the United States of America.”
The action has presented a new test of the First Amendment’s protection of a free press as his Administration moves to punish news organizations whose coverage he dislikes.
The First Amendment forbids the government from “abridging” the freedom of the press—a principle intended to allow news organizations to scrutinize those in power without fear of government retaliation over their reporting.
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