A group of private citizens has filed a lawsuit against the administration of US President Donald Trump, challenging its restrictions on news outlets covering the White House. The suit was lodged on Monday in a federal court in New York.
It is the first such case brought not by the news organizations that have been barred, but by people who consume their reporting and depend on it for their work. The plaintiffs include a human rights advocate, a media watchdog, a university history professor, a high school teacher, a legal journalist and a student journalist.
According to the complaint, all of the plaintiffs "rely on the White House press corps for independent reporting about the president and his administration." They use that reporting in their scholarship, teaching, journalism or advocacy. Each argues that doing their jobs requires unbiased and diverse coverage from inside the White House.
Peter Schmidt-Nowara, a high school social studies teacher in New York City, said in a statement that he was "gravely concerned" the restrictions are cutting off access to crucial information. "I joined this lawsuit because my students deserve to know what's happening in their government and to hear from a free and independent press," he said.
The case adds to several legal challenges Trump already faces over his practice of keeping journalists from outlets he dislikes out of the White House. Last month, he barred reporters from CNN, MS NOW and Politico from attending news conferences there. A federal judge later ruled that the order was unconstitutional and violated the First Amendment, which protects freedom of the press, and ordered access restored. The administration is still fighting that ruling.
Separately, last week Trump dismissed reports that he planned to remove journalists from the White House press briefing room and restore a swimming pool that was housed there starting in 1933. He said, however, that he is still considering moving the press out of the room.
"I am thinking about moving the Press, and putting them in a different location, but I will use that location for very badly needed space," Trump said in a social media post.
Kenneth Roth, a senior fellow at Yale University and former executive director of Human Rights Watch, is among those supporting the challenge. He said the restrictions on press access resemble patterns seen in countries whose leaders have turned authoritarian. "Worldwide, I have seen how governmental leaders' efforts to penalise independent journalists are a prelude to the rise of autocracy," he said in a statement.