U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden ruled on April 8 that President Donald Trump’s administration cannot exclude the Associated Press new wire service (AP) from the White House press pool, solely based on its refusal to use the name “Gulf of America” instead of Gulf of Mexico.
The AP had sued the Trump administration and some of its press staff after it lost its place in the exclusive, 13-member press pool, which has access to the president in places like the Oval Office, or while traveling on Air Force One.
McFadden ruled that the government infringed upon the AP’s First Amendment rights by kicking them out of the pool on Feb. 11, after it refused to update its style guide to reflect Trump’s order that changed the name of the body of water bordering the southern United States….