A federal judge has ordered the White House to restore the Associated Press’s (AP) full access to President Trump, ruling that banning the outlet violated the First Amendment.
The Trump administration filed notice the next day that it would appeal.
Judge Trevor N. McFadden issued an injunction on April 8 as requested by AP ordering the Trump administration to “immediately rescind their viewpoint-based denial” of AP from presidential events but delayed its effect until 13 April giving the government five days to file an emergency appeal.
He described Trump officials as “brazen” in repeatedly and publicly acknowledging they had banned AP because it refused to adopt the administration’s renaming of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America.
“The government repeatedly characterizes the AP’s request as a demand for ‘extra special access’,” he said. “But that is not what the AP is asking for, and it is not what the court orders. All the AP wants, and all it gets, is a level playing field.”
Judge McFadden – appointed by Trump to the federal district court for the District of Columbia – added:
“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. The Constitution requires no less.”
AP took three Trump officials to court in February in defence of its editorial independence, freedom of speech, and ability to gather and report the news after Trump officials began barring it from physically covering events.
The AP is one of the world’s three largest news agencies – along with Reuters and Agence France Presse (AFP).
It’s owned as a cooperative by the newspapers of America and has newspaper, television and radio broadcast, and other news organisation subscribers across the world.
Its reports, photographs and video are used by most mainstream American news outlets – more than 3000 of them – as well as most other major news organisations around the world, a total of 900 international sites.
On February 24 Judge McFadden had temporarily refused to order the White House to restore AP access immediately to presidential events, saying the news organization had not demonstrated it had suffered any irreparable harm – but he urged the Trump administration to reconsider its two-week-old ban, saying that case law “is uniformly unhelpful to the White House” and noted that the issue required more exploration before ruling.
The next day the White House took over control of media access saying its officials “will determine” which news outlets can regularly cover President Donald Trump up close — a sharp break from a century of tradition in which a pool of independently chosen news organizations go where the chief executive does and hold him accountable on behalf of the American public. AP sued, with the dispute raising profound questions about the independent news media’s role in covering presidential administrations and the lasting implications of Trump’s efforts to refigure the White House press corps.
AP February 21 2025 – original report
The Associated Press sued three Trump administration officials Friday over access to presidential events, citing freedom of speech in asking a federal judge to stop the 10-day blocking of its journalists.
The lawsuit was filed Friday afternoon in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C.
The AP says its case is about an unconstitutional effort by the White House to control speech — in this case refusing to change its style from the Gulf of Mexico to the “Gulf of America,” as President Donald Trump did last month with an executive order.
“The press and all people in the United States have the right to choose their own words and not be retaliated against by the government,” the AP said in its lawsuit, which names White House Chief of Staff Susan Wiles, Deputy Chief of Staff Taylor Budowich and Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt.
“This targeted attack on the AP’s editorial independence and ability to gather and report the news strikes at the very core of the First Amendment,” the news agency said. “This court should remedy it immediately.”
In stopping the AP from attending press events at the White House and Mar-a-Lago, or flying on Air Force One in the agency’s customary spot, the Trump team directly cited the AP’s decision not to fully follow the president’s renaming.
“We’re going to keep them out until such time as they agree that it’s the Gulf of America,” Trump said Tuesday.
This week, about 40 news organizations signed onto a letter organized by the White House Correspondents Association, urging the White House to reverse its policy against the AP.
Judge orders White House to give access to AP – New York Times April 8
AP wins reinstatement – AP April 9
Trump administration appeals AP ruling – AP April 9
Judge McFadden’s ruling
AP sues Trump officials-updated
Judge rejects immediate stop to White House ban
White House takes control of media access
White House strikes back at AP – Axios
Trump’s first 6 weeks: testing the limits of presidential power and U.S. democracy – AP
Trump says AP to be restricted in dispute over naming the Gulf of Mexico
White House accuses media of lies and bars AP from presidential access
International Press Institute (IPI) urges Trump administration to end AP restrictions
AP sues Trump officials – New York Times
AP sues Trump officials – Politico
The White House and the press – a contentious history
The AP – Wikipedia
