US: Judge orders White House to lift AP restrictions

US: Judge orders White House to lift AP restrictions

A US judge ordered President Donald Trump’s White House to lift restrictions placed on the Associated Press (AP) after the news agency’s decision to refrain from renaming the Gulf of Mexico as the “Gulf of America.”

District judge Trevor N. McFadden ruled that the Trump administration was not able to retaliate against AP’s decision not to follow the president’s executive order.

“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,” McFadden ruled in his temporary injunction.

“The Constitution requires no less,” he added.

AP barred from covering certain events AP has been blocked from joining other journalists in covering Trump from the Oval Office or aboard Air Force One. The agency was sporadically given the ability to cover the US President in the East Room.

The news agency’s spokeswoman Lauren Easton said it is “gratified” by the court’s decision, adding that it is an affirmation of the “fundamental right of the press and public to speak freely without government retaliation,” a right that’s guaranteed “to all Americans in the US Constitution.”

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The White House did not reply to AP’s request for comment and it is unclear whether it would move immediately to put the decision into effect.

Final ruling still expected The Trump administration has been given until Sunday to appeal the decision, with the injunction only coming into force then.

A final ruling is expected in the coming months, a ruling which could also be appealed.

Judge McFadden emphasized that the court “does not order the government to grant the AP permanent access,” and that the agency is not entitled to any special treatment.

“But it cannot be treated worse than its peer wire service either,” McFadden concluded.

The news outlet’s decision not to follow Trump’s executive order has wide-reaching implications in journalism, mostly due to its influential stylebook followed by a large number of English-speaking news organizations around the world.

Speaking about AP’s decision, the US president called the agency “radical left lunatics,” and said he would bar it from covering the White House until the decision changes.

US: Judge orders White House to lift AP restrictions