The Associated Press filed a federal lawsuit against three Trump Administration staffers on Friday over the outlet being banned from the Oval Office due to its refusal to use the term “Gulf of America.”
Friday’s lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., named Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, Deputy Chief of Staff Taylor Budowich, and White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles as defendants.
“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. “The Constitution does not allow the government to control speech. Allowing such government control and retaliation to stand is a threat to every American’s freedom.”
The AP is requesting an emergency hearing and a court order declaring the ban unconstitutional; the judge in the case is Judge Trevor McFadden, who was appointed by President Trump, CNN reported.
The Trump-AP feud started on Feb. 11, when the outlet was first barred from an Oval Office press conference the president held alongside Elon Musk. AP Executive Editor Julie Pace said the outlet was blocked from the press conference because it was continuing to use the term “Gulf of Mexico,” rather than Gulf of America, following President Trump’s executive order renaming the gulf on government contracts, maps and other documents.
“Nobody has the right to go into the Oval Office and ask the president of the United States questions,” Leavitt said last week. “That is an invitation that is given.”
Later, on Feb. 14, the White House said the AP was indefinitely banned from the Oval Office.
“While their right to irresponsible and dishonest reporting is protected by the First Amendment, it does not ensure their privilege of unfettered access to limited spaces, like the Oval Office and Air Force One,” Budowich said about the decision to indefinitely ban the AP.
In response, Pace said it was “a deeply troubling escalation of the administration’s continued efforts to punish the Associated Press for its editorial decisions … It is a plain violation of the First Amendment, and we urge the Trump administration in the strongest terms to stop this practice.”
Looking ahead, the legal battle between the Trump Administration and the AP will make for a fascinating case, according to one First Amendment expert. Lee C. Bollinger, president emeritus at Columbia University, told TheWrap earlier this week this will be a free speech issue that enters “unchartered waters,” with both sides having strong arguments in their favor.
“It’s true that the government doesn’t have any special obligations to allow access under the First Amendment to government activities,” Bollinger explained. “However, if the government does choose to have press briefings — and there is a long tradition of that — it should not be able to punish particular members of the press, especially established members like the AP, from being present, based upon their viewpoints. That would be a new First Amendment case, drawing on classic First Amendment principles.”
If he had to put money on it, Bollinger said, he would lean towards the AP winning a case, saying the outlet has “more than a 50-50” shot of getting the ban reversed.
