The Associated Press must have its full access to Donald Trump’s White House restored, a judge ruled on Tuesday.
Judge Trevor McFadden, who was appointed by Trump to his position in 2017, ruled that the White House could not ban select journalists from events solely because of the viewpoints they express. He ordered the White House to lift the ban immediately.
“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,” wrote McFadden. “The Constitution requires no less.”
The case marks a rare instance of President Donald Trump losing to a media outlet in court since his election—though the White House could still appeal the case.
McFadden wrote that his order should go into effect on April 13, part of a bid to give the government “time to seek an emergency stay from a higher court and to prepare to implement the Court’s injunction.”
Trump has tried to force scores of media outlets—including ABC, CBS, and the Des Moines Register—into courtrooms over coverage decisions he disagreed with.
ABC settled a defamation suit with Trump in December, donating $15 million to his presidential library as part of its agreement. CBS and Trump have agreed to a mediator in his $20 billion lawsuit against the network over a 60 Minutes interview with Kamala Harris.
McFadden also said the White House could retain control over access restrictions for journalists, but it couldn’t extend such restrictions over an outlet’s “viewpoints”—something he said the White House has been “brazen” about restricting.
“While the AP does not have a constitutional right to enter the Oval Office, it does have a right to not be excluded because of its viewpoint. And the AP says that is exactly what is happening,” he wrote. “The Court agrees.”
Tuesday’s ruling came less than two weeks after the outlet squared off in court against the White House over its months-long ban. The White House blocked the news wire from White House events, its controlled press pool, the Oval Office, and Air Force One over the outlet’s decision to use the “Gulf of Mexico” name.
The AP said it had to appeal to its global audience with the name, and it has reported on Trump’s executive order to change the name to the “Gulf of America.”
“We are gratified by the court’s decision. Today’s ruling affirms the fundamental right of the press and public to speak freely without government retaliation,” AP spokeswoman Lauren Easton said.
“This is a freedom guaranteed for all Americans in the U.S. Constitution. We look forward to continuing to provide factual, nonpartisan and independent coverage of the White House for billions of people around the world.”
“The White House did not respond to an immediate request for comment.
At a hearing last month, the AP’s chief Washington photographer Evan Vucci told McFadden that the White House’s efforts were damaging its ability to competitively cover Trump and his administration. “We’re basically dead in the water on major news stories,” he said at the time.
The efforts have forced the organization to come up with creative ways of tackling an administration prone to retaliating against enemies, media or otherwise.
Its reporters continue to reserve spots at White House events, though they are continuously turned away, according to The Washington Post. It has also relied on some of its foreign-based correspondents to filter into events as its White House-based team is excluded.
Its photographers have had to stand apart from others as they try to capture Trump, leading to one widely circulated image of Trump reading the New York Post‘s coverage of his sweeping tariff plan from the inside of his presidential car, “The Beast.”
In its court arguments, the AP argued the White House has no process on how it determines which outlets get to cover Trump and arbitrarily excludes the AP from such lists. “There’s no rhyme or reason,” said Vucci, the reporter who took the famed photo of a defiant Trump raising his fist after last summer’s assassination attempt. “I don’t think anyone knows.”
The White House has argued that the AP has allowed its stylebook, which is used by most major news organizations worldwide for reference languages on topics, to be weaponized in biased ways.
It has allowed the AP, Wiles told AP executive editor Julie Pace in a letter in February, “to push a partisan worldview in contrast with the traditional and deeply held beliefs of many Americans and many people around the world.”
