Federal judge orders White House to restore Associated Press' access to cover presidential events
A microphone of Associated Press (AP), an American non-profit news agency is placed outside the Court of Final Appeal as they wait for the verdict of Jimmy Lai's bail. (Photo by Chan Long Hei/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
A federal judge ordered the White House to restore The Associated Press’ full access to cover presidential events.
On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Trevor N. McFadden, an appointee of President Donald Trump, affirmed on First Amendment grounds that the government can’t punish a news organization for the content of its speech.
Gulf of Mexico
The backstory: The judge ruled that the government can’t retaliate against the AP’s decision to not follow the president’s executive order to rename the Gulf of Mexico.
The AP filed a lawsuit back in February after the White House restricted its access to cover events.
What they're saying:
"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." The Constitution’s First Amendment guarantees freedom of the press, speech and religion and bars the government from obstructing any of them.
The AP has since been blocked from covering presidential events since Feb. 11.
When will the ruling go into effect?
What's next:
McFadden held off on implementing his order to give the government time to respond or appeal the ruling.
The Source: Information for this article was gathered from The Associated Press and previous reporting from LiveNOW from FOX. This story was reported from Los Angeles.