Justice Department lawyer Eric McArthur asserted that a lower-court ruling mandating that AP journalists be granted access to press events in the White House infringes on the president's ability to decide whom to admit to sensitive spaces. The White House has asked to put the ruling on hold while it appeals.
Arguing before a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, McArthur said Trump would be acting lawfully even “if he wanted to reconstitute the press pool as his 20 favorite reporters.”
“I am worried about that,“ said Circuit Judge Gregory Katsas, appointed by the Republican Trump during his first term. Circuit Judge Cornelia Pillard, appointed by Democratic then-President Barack Obama, cited the tradition of the White House press pool, noting how reporters had close observational access to controversies involving former Presidents Richard Nixon, a Republican, and Bill Clinton, a Democrat.
Lawyers for the AP accused the White House on Wednesday of defying the court order by continuing to exclude its journalists from some events and then limiting access for all news wires, including Reuters and Bloomberg, to Trump.
The April 8 ruling by U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden, appointed by Trump during his first term, temporarily ordered the administration to allow AP journalists to attend events open to similar types of news organizations in the Oval Office and on Air Force One, as well as in larger spaces in the White House while its lawsuit moves forward.
The AP sued three top Trump aides, alleging the restrictions were an attempt to coerce the news media into using the government's preferred language and had hampered its ability to cover Trump.
The three-judge panel that heard the White House request on Thursday afternoon included Pillard, Katsas and another judge Trump appointed during his first term, Neomi Rao.
The AP says in its stylebook that the Gulf of Mexico has carried that name for more than 400 years and, as a global news agency, the AP will refer to it by its original name while acknowledging the new name Trump has chosen.
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