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Appeals Court Lets Trump Block AP From Oval Office and Air Force One

It pauses a judge’s order restoring AP’s access pending further appeal in a dispute over presidential authority to limit journalist entry.

FILE - The Associated Press logo is displayed at the news organization's world headquarters in New York on April 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Aaron Jackson, File)
AP attorney Charles Tobin, center left, talks with AP White House correspondent Zeke Miller, center with back to camera, and AP chief Washington photographer Evan Vucci, center right, outside the E. Barrett Prettyman Federal Courthouse following a hearing on The Associated Press' lawsuit against the Trump administration to restore access to presidential events on March 27 in Washington, DC.
President Donald Trump, right, meets Germany's Chancellor Friedrich Merz in the Oval Office of the White House, Thursday, June 5, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
U.S. President Donald Trump gestures as he departs the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., June 6, 2025. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

Overview

  • A divided D.C. Circuit panel granted a stay of U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden’s April injunction that had ordered AP reporters back into tightly controlled presidential spaces.
  • Judges Neomi Rao and Gregory Katsas concluded that areas like the Oval Office and Air Force One are not traditional public forums under the First Amendment, affirming presidential discretion over access.
  • The stay does not affect AP’s entry to larger venues such as the East Room, where all pre-credentialed media remain admitted.
  • AP expressed disappointment in the ruling, noting it was originally barred for refusing to rename the Gulf of Mexico the “Gulf of America” and is now reviewing its legal options.
  • The decision sets the stage for a full appeals review that will weigh executive power over press privileges against First Amendment considerations.