The Associated Press recently won in court, challenging President Donald Trump's decision to exclude the news organization from the White House press pool. The dispute began over the president's renaming of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America and the A.P.'s refusal to fully adopt the renaming in its style guide.
U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden—a Trump appointee—ruled that the president's unconstitutional actions amounted to viewpoint discrimination by the government. "The Court simply holds that 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," wrote McFadden in his decision. "The Constitution requires no less."
Before this decision, Julie Pace, the A.P.'s executive editor and senior vice president, encouraged Americans to look at the big picture. "For anyone who thinks the Associated Press's lawsuit against President Trump's White House is about the name of a body of water, think bigger," wrote Pace in The Wall Street Journal. "It's really about whether the government can control what you say."
