A federal judge on Tuesday ordered the Trump administration to restore The Associated Press’s access to key White House spaces after it exiled AP reporters over the organization’s refusal to use “Gulf of America” in its popular stylebook.
U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden, an appointee of President Trump, directed the White House to resume allowing the AP into the Oval Office, Air Force One and other limited spaces when they’re made available to other press pool members.
He also granted the AP’s request for access to events open to all credentialed White House reporters, though he listed several caveats.
“This injunction 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. And it certainly does not prevent senior officials from publicly expressing their own views,” McFadden wrote.
“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,” he wrote. “The Constitution requires no less.”
After his initial ruling, the judge paused the order from going into effect until April 13, to give the Trump administration time to appeal. The stay will dissolve after that, unless a higher court steps in.
The AP sued three top White House officials earlier this year after its journalists were banned from the Oval Office and Air Force One because the outlet refused to change its stylebook guidelines to use “Gulf of America” after Trump renamed the Gulf of Mexico.
