Hans von Spakovsky
The Associated Press claims it won a “major victory” in its lawsuit against the White House, but you would think a wire service that says it provides “accurate, unbiased news” would be a little more accurate in its reporting. Federal district court Judge Trevor McFadden issued a preliminary injunction in AP’s favor, but the decision is much narrower than what AP portrays.
The lawsuit, Associated Press v. Taylor Budowich (deputy chief of staff at the White House), was filed after the White House “sharply curtailed AP’s access to coveted, tightly controlled media events with the President.”
AP claimed the government violated the First Amendment by excluding it “because of its viewpoint” and, specifically, its refusal to use the term “Gulf of America” in its reporting.
Judge McFadden agreed with AP but went to great lengths to explain the limits of his injunction. He said it: “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 views.”
Government by Injunction
Instead, Judge McFadden’s ruling was simple: “Under the First Amendment, if the Government opens its doors to some journalists … it cannot then shut those doors to other journalists because of their viewpoints.”
So, AP won, but its victory is largely symbolic.
In his decision, Judge McFadden did not interfere with the White House’s assertion of control over who gets hard passes into the very limited press pool, previously controlled by the White House Press Correspondents’ Association. » Read More
https://www.heritage.org/courts/commentary/the-associated-press-narrow-victory-over-the-white-house
