The Associated Press (AP) filed a lawsuit against Taylor Budowich (White House Deputy Chief of Staff), Karoline Leavitt (White House Press Secretary), and Susan Whiles (White House Chief of Staff), claiming that banning its presence at White House events is a violation of two US Constitutional Amendments.
Last week, the AP was indefinitely banned by the Trump Administration because the global news outlet refused to change its style guide recommendations for the naming for the body of water to the south of Texas. The AP says both its journalists and photojournalists have been banned as a result.
“The White House has ordered The Associated Press to use certain words in its coverage or else face an indefinite denial of access. 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 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 lawsuit, filed in the District Court of the District of Columbia, reads.
“To date, the AP’s reporters and photographers remain banned from the Oval Office, Air Force One, and other locations open not only to pool members, but also to a larger group of journalists with White House press credentials.”
The United States officially changed its naming convention for this body of water to the Gulf of America, but the bulk of the countries in which the AP operates do not recognize this change and continue to know it as the Gulf of Mexico. The AP acknowledges the name change in the United States, but, given that the US is in the minority, it has not changed its style guide recommendations unilaterally. Trump Administration has characterized this as a “commitment to misinformation.” The AP argues this is a violation of its rights to editorial independence that is guaranteed by the US Constitution which is designed to prevent the Executive Branch from coercing journalists to report news using only government-approved language.
The AP, formed in 1846, had been a member of the White House press corps since it was created over 100 years ago and argues that as one of the world’s most trusted forms of news, its exclusion prevents it from providing critical information to the public.
The lawsuit alleges that the actions taken against it violate the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment as well as the First Amendment. The AP cites a prior D.C Circuit court ruling which says journalists have a “first amendment interest” in access to the White House which “undoubtedly qualifies as liberty which may not be denied without due process of law under the fifth amendment.” It adds that precedent has already made it clear that denying journalists access to White House press events “based upon the content of the journalist’s speech” is “prohibited under the First Amendment.”
“Upon driving over here from the White House, I actually learned that I have been sued by the Associated Press,” Leavitt said today in response to the lawsuit’s filing.
“So we’ll see them in court. We feel we are in the right in this position and I said in my first briefing at the podium: We are going to ensure that truth and accuracy is present at that White House every single day.”
“It is always a very difficult decision for a news organization to file a lawsuit against an entity it regularly covers. Sadly, despite the unsuccessful efforts of so many other press organizations and back-channel conversations urging the White House to reverse its blatantly unconstitutional actions barring the AP reporters and photographers from access to the Oval Office and Air Force One, the AP was left with no choice than to seek judicial relief,” Mickey H. Osterreicher, General Counsel for the National Press Photographers Association (NPPA), tells PetaPixel.
The NPPA was one of more than 40 journalist-supporting groups that posted a letter today condemning the behavior of the Trump Administration.
“One of the most important things to remember is that the AP is not suing the White House so much for itself but to uphold the First Amendment right of the public to be informed of what their government is doing.”
