WASHINGTON—A federal court today ruled in favor of the Associated Press in a case challenging its exclusion from the White House press pool, stating “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. The Constitution requires no less.”

The Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University filed two amicus briefs in the case. The first argued that the decision to ban the AP from participating in the press pool violates the First Amendment because it is based on viewpoint. The second brief was filed on behalf of legal scholars and addressed the historical pedigree of the rule against viewpoint discrimination. The court’s opinion generally tracked the theory proposed in the first brief, and expressly cited the second brief.

The following can be attributed to Jameel Jaffer, executive director at the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University:

“This is a careful, well-reasoned opinion that properly describes the exclusion of the Associated Press from the press pool as retaliatory, viewpoint-based, and unconstitutional. As the Court says, the First Amendment bars the White House from excluding news organizations from the press pool based on their editorial judgments.”

The following can be attributed to Katie Fallow, deputy litigation director at the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University:

“This is an important decision. The First Amendment means the White House can’t ban news outlets from covering the president simply because they don’t parrot his preferred language.” 

Read today’s decision here.

Read more about the case here.