The government filed a notice of appeal early Wednesday afternoon on behalf of the three officials sued by the AP — White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, White House chief of staff Susan Wiles and deputy chief of staff Taylor Budowich. The one-page notice of appeal gave no other details.
The defendants “respectfully provide notice that they hereby appeal to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit,” the notice said.
On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Trevor N. McFadden, an appointee of President Donald Trump, ruled in favor of the AP, whose reporters and photographers had been excluded from White House events since February because the news agency had decided not to follow the president’s executive order changing the Gulf of Mexico name to Gulf of America.
McFadden ruled that the government can't retaliate against the AP's decision. Citing a principle known as “viewpoint discrimination,” the judge wrote that the administration cannot punish the news organization for the content of its speech.
“Under the First Amendment, if the government opens its doors to some journalists — be it to the Oval Office, the East Room, or elsewhere — it cannot then shut those doors to other journalists because of their viewpoints,” McFadden wrote. “The Constitution requires no less.”
