Appeals court rules Trump can boot Associated Press from the Oval Office

A federal appeals court said Friday that President Trump can exclude The Associated Press from the Oval Office, overturning at least part of a lower court ruling that had ordered him to give the news service the same access as other outlets.

In a 2-1 ruling, the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia said the Oval Office is a special place for the president and he must retain the right to decide who’s allowed into his “private workspaces.”

But the court said the White House cannot restrict access to events in the White House’s East Room and other similar spaces, which are different than the Oval Office.

“Throughout our nation’s history, presidents have held crucial meetings and made historic decisions in the Oval Office and on Air Force One. On occasion, they have welcomed the press to observe. But these restricted presidential spaces are not First Amendment fora, and the president retains discretion over who has access,” Judge Naomi Rao wrote in a decision joined by Judge Gregory Katsas.

The majority also said that while reporting — or “newsgathering,” as the judges put it — has some First Amendment protections, it is not actually speech.

“Newsgathering may enjoy some First Amendment protections from government interference,” Judge Rao said. “But newsgathering is not itself a communicative activity.”

Mr. Trump tried to boot the AP from its longstanding special access to press events after the wire service refused to adopt the president’s new “Gulf of America” terminology.

That left the AP without access to the press “pool” of reporters that gets access to events in the Oval Office, aboard Air Force One and other spaces.

After some back-and-forth, the White House settled on a policy that demoted two other wire services, Reuters and Bloomberg, to be on par with the AP, and all of them on par with other news outlets such as The Washington Times, The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal.

The appeals court ruling would give Mr. Trump a chance to walk even that access back.

At issue in the case is whether news organizations have a First Amendment right of speech that trumps the president’s ability to control access to himself.

The court’s majority said the Oval Office is such a unique space that the president can control access there.

Judge Cornelia Pillard dissented from the ruling, saying the attempt to punish the AP for its refusal to use “Gulf of America” instead of “Gulf of Mexico” crossed lines.

“Neither this court nor the Supreme Court has ever upheld the exclusion from a forum or denial of a benefit based on a private recipient’s viewpoint outside the forum or benefit program,” she said.

Under the current operation of the press pool, AP reporters have the same chance at access to an Oval Office event as a reporter from a major newspaper or news website. There are dozens of organizations in the rotation.

AP photographers are also part of another rotating pool, with far fewer news organizations in that.

After the Friday ruling, that access could now legally be curtailed at least for Oval Office events.

Aaron Terr, director of public advocacy at the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, said the appeals court is allowing the White House “to get away with blatant viewpoint discrimination against media outlets it doesn’t like.”

He said he was also stunned by the court’s conclusion that newsgathering is not in itself protected “communicative activity.”