A three-person judge panel in the District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals heard debate over the White House in E. Barrett Prettyman’s federal court on April 17, 2025, denies Associated Press journalists from certain spaces open to other journalists. (Photos for the US General Services Management)

WASHINGTON — The Associated Press and the Trump administration faced tough questions in court Thursday as the White House fights to block a lower court order that requires other journalists to deny wire outlet entries into spaces allowed.

A three-judicial panel of judges in the District of Columbia’s U.S. Court of Appeals burned the parties at length about how the initial amendments would apply to journalists in the oval office and other regions, and whether the president could decide which journalists would track other journalists based on his perspective.

The case is also unfolding at the district court level, and tests decades of established reporter access for the White House AP after President Donald Trump declared that the term “American Gulf” should be used instead of “Gulf of Mexico.”

District Judge Trevor McFadden The AP side On April 8, the Trump administration publicly retaliated against an agency published for editorials, on the grounds that it violated the initial right to amend Wire Services. decision We will continue to use the Gulf of Mexico in our reporting and influential stylebooks.

Oval office not for “silent retreat”

Before the appeals court on Thursday, Eric D. MacArthur, representing the government, opposed McFadden’s “unprecedented” preliminary injunction and said it would interfere with the president’s “autonomy” in “very restricted spaces.”

The AP had not requested access “when the president wants to focus on his writing and his work,” said Judge Corenlia Pillard, “When you say a place of ‘autonomy’, that’s a bit confusing for me. “I said.

“You make the elliptical sounds like a quiet retreat location,” said Pillard, who was appointed to the appeals bench during President Barack Obama’s second term.

Pillard also emphasized that privacy expectations are different for people in “High Public Office.”

“There are already dozens out there, so he agrees to have a press pool,” she said in MacArthur’s approximately 45-minute question.

administration Discussed The emergency appeal blocks a ruling that Trump will be “irreparably injured” if he fails to maintain a lower court order while the High Court is awarding the case.

Authorities also retorted that the First Amendment protects the rights of the president, and that which journalists enter the oval office, based on Air Force 1 or Mar-a-lago, based on what their report is.

What is the distinction?

Associated Press lawyer Charles Tobin argued that the White House “bravely excluded” AP reporters and photographers from opportunities open to other journalists.

McFadden has “made it appropriate and very narrow” his injunction, Tobin said. Under the First Amendment, the subordinate judge ruled that if the White House opens doors to spaces that include oval offices and East rooms for all journalists, they cannot be ruled out based on perspective.

McFadden writes that his ruling does not require journalists to be given access to the president, or that the president cannot choose which outlet to allow exclusive interviews.

Judge Neomi Rao said: “The AP acknowledges that they can select journalists based on the perspective of exclusive interviews.”

“What is the distinction when talking about ellipses or planes or 10 or 12 journalists at home in Mar Arago?” asked Rao, who was appointed during Trump’s first presidency.

Tobin replied that the pool is a system inviting many journalists to participate on a spin-based basis.

“That’s exactly where the distinction is,” he said.

Acceptable private invitations

Judge Gregory Cassas presented other scenarios when the president could only invite “supportive” members in the cabinet room to develop policies.

Tobin said that if the event is open to all press, the president cannot discriminate based on perspective.

“Once you have a system of rotation, it’s time for your perspective to become disgusting,” Tobin replied.

He asked Katsas, who was appointed during Trump’s first term, when the president invited him to an oval office saying, “I tapped (a certain reporter) on the shoulder.”

Tobin replied that the president could get reporters by hand for a private interview in an oval office.

“This seems very close to what’s going on here,” Cassas said.

Wire position axed

White House on Wednesday announcement A new media policy that places restrictions on access to oval offices and other spaces for all wire services. Other wire services include Bloomberg and AFP.

Despite McFadden’s court order, the White House on Monday refused entry to Associated Press and Photographers to an oval office press conference between Trump and El Salvador President Naive Buquer.

The Associated Press filed a motion in district court on Wednesday, demanding that McFadden enforce his provisional injunction.

McFadden is scheduled for a hearing Friday.

White House I’ve begun to deny it AP entries for the elliptical office, East Room and other locations on February 11th.

Trump spokesperson Karoline Leavitt announced in late February that White House officials would take over the pool rotation decision from the White House Correspondents Association, a member organization with the rotation and briefing sheet placement of self-governing journalists since the Eisenhower administration.