• by Ray Schultz , April 8, 2025

Associated Press reporters will be allowed back in the White House and on Air Force One — after Sunday. 

A federal court has stayed the order that granted AP a preliminary injunction against the government “to provide the Government time to seek an emergency stay from a higher court and to prepare to implement the Court’s injunction,” wrote U.S. Judge Trevor N. McFadden in an order issued Tuesday.  

McFadden added: “This stay automatically dissolves after April 13, absent further relief from a higher court.” 

The White House had blocked AP reporters from events in retaliation for AP’s persistence in using the name “Gulf of Mexico” instead of the Trump-mandated name “Gulf of America.”

AP filed suit in February, claiming its First Amendment rights had been violated.  

In his ruling ordering the White House to admit AP, McFadden, a Trump-appointed judge, wrote: "The Court simply holds that 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. The Constitution requires no less."