Six Citizens Sue Trump Over White House Press Restrictions

Six people who rely on White House reporting for their work have sued President Donald Trump and administration officials, alleging that restrictions on press access violate the First Amendment and limit the public’s access to independent news. The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Manhattan, seeks a declaration that the policy is unconstitutional and an injunction against its enforcement. The plaintiffs are represented by Columbia University’s Knight First Amendment Institute and Yale Law School’s Media Freedom and Information Access Clinic. They include Yale scholars Kenneth Roth and Beverly Gage, journalists Daniel Froomkin and Benjamin Wittes, New York City high school teacher Peter Schmidt-Nowara and University of Pennsylvania student journalist Ethan Young. The complaint argues that the White House’s restrictions on news organizations amount to viewpoint-based and unreasonable limits on newsgathering in a limited public forum. The plaintiffs say they rely on White House coverage for teaching, journalism, advocacy or scholarship, and that excluding reporters deprives them of information about the government. They also argue that the prospect of losing access could affect...