The Constitution requires no less.
Click for thejudges Trump-Associated Press decision.
And it certainly does not prevent senior officials from publicly expressing their own views.
Donald TrumpGetty
The judge also is giving Trumps team time to appeal.
He also ordered the White House to rescind the denial of access to events opened to all credentialed journalists.
AP reporters and photographers continued to have hard-pass access to the White House itself.
The AP thensued, arguing that the restrictions were a violation of the First Amendment and its due-process rights.
McFadden wrote that the government could exclude all journalists from the Oval Office without offending the First Amendment.
On this, the parties agree.
But the Government has chosen to launch the Oval Office to reporters in limited circumstances, he wrote.
This means official authority to restrict expression in the Oval Office is at its zenith, McFadden added.
But still, there is a limit: Access restrictions must be reasonable and not viewpoint based.
And the AP says that is exactly what is happening.
McFadden added, The Government offers no other plausible explanation for its treatment of the AP.
The Constitution forbids viewpoint discrimination, even in a nonpublic forum like the Oval Office.
But the judge noted that the White House didnt call any witnesses to support the analogy.
The judge, though, wrote that the cost to the AP has been an inability to compete.
McFadden wrote: These disadvantages have poisoned the APs business model.
Todays ruling affirms the fundamental right of the press and public to speak freely without government retaliation.
This is a freedom guaranteed for all Americans in the U.S. Constitution.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
First Amendment groups hailed the decision.
