From yesterday's statement by D.C. Circuit Judge Justin Walker, joined by Judge Florence Pan, concurring in the denial of rehearing en banc in AP v. Budowich (see also this June 9 post about the panel opinion):
In this case, "White House officials excluded the AP from the Oval Office and other restricted spaces. Officials announced that access was denied because the AP continued to use the name Gulf of Mexico in its Stylebook, rather than the President's preferred Gulf of America." The district court enjoined the Government from excluding the AP from "the Oval Office, Air Force One, and other limited spaces based on the AP's viewpoint when such spaces are made open to other members of the White House press pool." An emergency panel of this court partially stayed the district court's injunction pending appeal….
There have been many name changes in recent years. The Cleveland Indians were renamed the Cleveland Guardians. George Washington University's Colonials were renamed the Revolutionaries. Fort Bragg was renamed Fort Liberty before it was renamed Fort Bragg again. And on and on.
Whether to embrace these name changes — or even to keep track of them — is at least in part a political choice. So this case about the AP's refusal to say "Gulf of America" is a case about the AP's political speech. And as a general matter, political speech is highly protected speech that the government cannot compel or punish.
