By Jan Wolfe
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -A U.S. appeals court on Monday will hear oral arguments in the Associated Press’s battle with President Donald Trump over access to presidential events, a major press-freedom case.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit is considering the Trump administration’s appeal of an April ruling that it unlawfully retaliated against the AP because it refused to call the Gulf of Mexico by President Trump’s preferred name for it: the Gulf of America.
In the April ruling, U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden said the AP was entitled to a preliminary injunction in its favor. McFadden, a Trump-appointed judge, ordered the White House to immediately let Associated Press journalists return to the Oval Office and other spaces to cover news events.
The D.C. Circuit in June paused the injunction while it considered the Trump administration’s appeal, an incremental setback for the news organization.
Trump signed an executive order in February directing the Interior Department to change the name of the body of water to the Gulf of America.
The AP, citing editorial standards, said it would continue to use the gulf’s established name while acknowledging the new name Trump has chosen.
The White House responded by limiting the AP’s access to press gatherings, calling the news agency’s decision divisive and misinformation.
The AP sued three senior Trump aides in February, alleging the restrictions were an attempt to coerce the press into using the administration’s preferred language. The lawsuit alleged the restrictions violated protections under the U.S. Constitution for free speech and due process.
Lawyers for the Trump administration have argued the AP does not have a right to what the White House has called special access to non-public areas.
The Trump administration in April removed wire services, including Reuters and the AP, from the permanent “pool” of reporters covering the president, although it allows those outlets to participate on a sporadic basis.
(Reporting by Jan Wolfe in Washington; Editing by Bill Berkrot)
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