The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia has stayed the implementation of a lower court's ruling that ordered the U.S. administration to restore access to Associated Press (AP) reporters and photographers to the Oval Office and certain other areas of the White House for events involving President Donald Trump, as well as aboard Air Force One, according to a publication in the court's electronic database.
In the appeal, Washington administration lawyers argue that the president has absolute discretion over media access to the White House and that the decision of the District of Columbia federal court to restore AP access violates the rights of the head of state. On April 16, the AP accused the White House of violating a court order by continuing to bar journalists from certain events.
The agency had previously filed a lawsuit against White House Press Secretary Caroline Leavitt, White House Chief of Staff Susan Wiles, and her first deputy Taylor Badowitz after AP correspondents and photographers were denied access to the Oval Office and certain other White House rooms for events involving Trump, as well as Air Force One. These restrictions on the agency, whose journalists have been part of the White House press pool for many years, were introduced in response to the AP's refusal to refer to the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of Mexico in its materials, despite Trump's order to change the name.
The court in Washington earlier issued a temporary ruling in favor of the White House in this lawsuit, refusing to oblige the press service of the head of the US administration to immediately restore full access to AP correspondents. The court then called on the White House to reconsider the decision to impose restrictions on AP.