A federal appeals court is allowing the Trump White House to ban the Associated Press from the Oval Office and other restricted spaces for now in a ruling that blocked a lower court’s ruling that claimed the ban was unconstitutional.
In a 2-1 order, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia granted in part a stay of the lower court’s April 8 ruling that declared the content-based ban unconstitutional. Both of the judges who ruled in the administration’s favor were nominated by President Trump in his first term.
“We grant in part the government’s motion for a stay pending appeal,” Judge Gregory Katsas and Judge Neomi Rao wrote. “The White House is likely to succeed on the merits because these restricted presidential spaces are not First Amendment fora opened for private speech and discussion. The White House therefore retains discretion to determine, including on the basis of viewpoint, which journalists will be admitted. Moreover, without a stay, the government will suffer irreparable harm because the injunction impinges on the president’s independence and control over this private workspaces.”
The White House has already assumed control of the White House press pool access and rotation so that wire outlets, including the Associated Press, are not in spaces like Air Force One or the Oval Office as frequently as they once were.
The AP, which says its news reporting reaches roughly 4 billion people daily, filed its lawsuit against three senior White House officials after it was informed in February that it would no longer be allowed in places like the Oval Office and on Air Force One as part of the press pool until the AP revised its influential Stylebook to use the name Gulf of America instead of Gulf of Mexico.
The Stylebook is a writing and editing guide that is used by newspapers, magazines and other media outlets throughout the country. It covers a wide range of topics, from abbreviations of state names to describing ages to jargon used in different sports.
In a social media post following Friday’s ruling, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt wrote, “As we’ve said all along, the Associated Press is not guaranteed special access to cover President Trump in the Oval Office, aboard Air Force One, and in other sensitive locations. Thousands of other journalists have never been afforded the opportunity to cover the President in these privileged spaces. Moving forward, we will continue to expand access to new media so that more people can cover the most transparent President in American history rather than just the failing legacy media. And by the way @AP, it’s still the Gulf of America.”
Kathryn Watson is a politics reporter for CBS News Digital, based in Washington, D.C.
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