A federal judge denied The Associated Press’ request for a temporary restraining order against officials with Donald Trump’s White House, after they restricted access over the press agency’s continued use of the name “Gulf of Mexico” after Trump renamed it the “Gulf of America” in an executive order shortly after taking office last month.
NBC News reported that the judge asked for more briefing on the subject before making a decision.
The Associated Press raised constitutional arguments in its lawsuit against White House deputy chief of staff Taylor Budowich, press secretary Karoline Leavitt and chief of staff Susie Wiles. The outlet’s complaint said that on Feb. 11 and without prior notice, White House officials said the AP “would be barred from entering certain areas in the White House as a member of the press pool unless the AP began referring to the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America.”
The AP’s complaint raised claims under two constitutional provisions: the First and Fifth Amendments.
Laying out the First Amendment argument, the complaint said (in part) that the government defendants “have admitted that they acted against the AP based on their dislike of the AP’s use of the Gulf of Mexico name and its other editorial choices. The law does not allow the government to control speech based on its likes and dislikes.”
On the Fifth Amendment point, the complaint said (in part):
Defendants’ decision to indefinitely ban the AP from “access to limited spaces, like the Oval Office and Air Force One” open to members of the White House press pool, violates the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Because the White House has made those spaces available to other members of the pool, it cannot constitutionally deny the AP’s access without due process of law, and cannot deny access so arbitrarily or for anything other than legitimate, compelling reasons.
The AP’s motion for a temporary restraining order wanted the government defendants “to immediately rescind the ban on the AP’s access to the Oval Office, Air Force One, and other limited spaces when such spaces are made open to other members of the White House press pool.”
Opposing a restraining order, government officials said that the AP “continues to enjoy general media access to the White House press facilities” and that the case is only about “losing special media access to the President — a quintessentially discretionary presidential choice that infringes no constitutional right.” U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden, a Trump appointee in the District of Columbia, held a hearing Monday afternoon on the restraining order request. The White House Correspondents’ Association filed a brief supporting the AP ahead of the hearing, arguing that government officials punishing media viewpoints jeopardizes democracy, chilling and distorting news coverage of the president “to the public’s detriment.” Subscribe to the Deadline: Legal Newsletter for expert analysis on the top legal stories of the week, including updates from the Supreme Court and developments in Donald Trump’s legal cases.
Jordan Rubin is the Deadline: Legal Blog writer. He was a prosecutor for the New York County District Attorney’s Office in Manhattan and is the author of “Bizarro," a book about the secret war on synthetic drugs. Before he joined MS NOW, he was a legal reporter for Bloomberg Law.
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