The Associated Press (AP) today filed an emergency petition asking the full U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to reconsider a recent split panel decision that reinstated the White House’s directive banning the AP from the press pool covering the Oval Office, Air Force One, and Mar-a-Lago. The AP described the panel’s decision as “unprecedented,” warning it empowers the Trump administration to violate First Amendment protections.
The petition urges the full court to vacate the June 6 ruling that partially granted the government’s request to stay a preliminary injunction, which had blocked the White House from excluding the AP while the constitutional dispute is ongoing.
“This decision conflicts with binding precedent and raises issues of exceptional importance, impacting whether officials may discriminate and retaliate against journalists to compel them — and the public — to adopt government-approved language,” the AP stated.
The ban followed the AP’s refusal to comply with the administration’s demand to refer to the Gulf of Mexico by President Trump’s preferred term, the “Gulf of America.” The AP continues to refer to the body of water by its internationally recognized name while acknowledging the president’s chosen term.
In April, U.S. District Judge Trevor N. McFadden ruled that the AP is likely to succeed in proving that its exclusion from key White House press events based on this dispute violates its First Amendment rights. However, last week, a divided three-judge panel reinstated the ban for several presidential spaces, reasoning those areas are restricted government property not subject to First Amendment public forum protections.
In dissent, Judge Cornelia T.L. Pillard condemned the majority’s decision as inconsistent with long-standing First Amendment precedent and White House press traditions, warning that allowing viewpoint-based exclusions threatens the very role of a free press in democracy.
The AP’s petition argues that the panel misapplied legal doctrine by treating “observational newsgathering” as a non-communicative activity, overlooking that AP journalists report in real time and regularly engage with the president during Oval Office press events.
Representatives from both parties have not yet commented on the petition.
Case: Associated Press v. Taylor Budowich et al., No. 25-5109, U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.
