The Supreme Court on Saturday blocked, for now, the deportations of any Venezuelans held in northern Texas under an 18th century wartime law.

In a brief order, the court directed the Trump administration not to remove Venezuelans held in the Bluebonnet Detention Center “until further order of this court.”

Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito dissented.

The high court acted in an emergency appeal from the American Civil Liberties Union contending that immigration authorities appeared to be moving to restart removals under the Alien Enemies Act of 1798. The Supreme Court had said earlier in April that deportations could proceed only if those about to be removed had a chance to argue their case in court and were given “a reasonable time” to contest their pending removals.

“We are deeply relieved that the Court has temporarily blocked the removals. These individuals were in imminent danger of spending the rest of their lives in a brutal Salvadoran prison without ever having had any due process,” ACLU lawyer Lee Gelernt said in an email.

On Friday, two federal judges refused to step in as lawyers for the men launched a desperate legal campaign to prevent their deportation, even as one judge said the case raised legitimate concerns. Early Saturday, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals also refused to issue an order protecting the detainees from being deported.

The administration is expected to return to the Supreme Court quickly in an effort to persuade the justices to lift their temporary order.

The ACLU had already sued to block deportations of two Venezuelans held in the Bluebonnet facility and sought an order barring removals of any immigrants in the region under the Alien Enemies Act.

In an emergency filing early Friday, the ACLU warned that immigration authorities were accusing other Venezuelan men held there of being members of the Tren de Aragua gang, which would make them subject to President Donald Trump’s use of the act.

The act has only been invoked three previous times in U.S. history, most recently during World War II to hold Japanese-American civilians in internment camps. The Trump administration contended it gave them power to swiftly remove immigrants they identified as members of the gang, regardless of their immigration status.

Following the unanimous high court order on April 9, federal judges in Colorado, New York and southern Texas promptly issued orders barring removal of detainees under the AEA until the administration provides a process for them to make claims in court.

But there had been no such order issued in the area of Texas that covers Bluebonnet, which is located 24 miles north of Abilene in the far northern end of the state.

U.S. District Judge James Wesley Hendrix, a Trump appointee, this week declined to bar the administration from removing the two men identified in the ACLU lawsuit because Immigration and Customs Enforcement filed sworn declarations that they would not be immediately deported. He also balked at issuing a broader order prohibiting removal of all Venezuelans in the area under the act because he said removals hadn’t started yet.

But the ACLU’s Friday filing included sworn declarations from three separate immigration lawyers who said their clients in Bluebonnet were given paperwork indicating they were members of Tren de Aragua and could be deported by Saturday. In one case, immigration lawyer Karene Brown said her client, identified by initials, was told to sign papers in English even though the client only spoke Spanish.

“ICE informed F.G.M. that these papers were coming from the President, and that he will be deported even if he did not sign it,” Brown wrote.

Gelernt said in a Friday evening hearing before District Judge James E. Boasberg in Washington, D.C., that the administration initially moved Venezuelans to its south Texas immigration facility for deportation. But since a judge banned deportations in that area, it has funneled them to the Bluebonnet facility, where no such order exists. He said witnesses reported the men were being loaded on buses Friday evening to be taken to the airport.

With Hendrix not agreeing to the ACLU’s request for an emergency order, the group turned to Boasberg, who initially halted deportations in March. The Supreme Court ruled the orders against deportation could only come from judges in jurisdictions where immigrants were held, which Boasberg said made him powerless Friday.

“I’m sympathetic to everything you’re saying,” Boasberg told Gelernt. “I just don’t think I have the power to do anything about it.”

Boasberg this week found there’s probable cause that the Trump administration committed criminal contempt by disobeying his initial deportation ban. He was concerned that the paper that ICE was giving those held did not make clear they had a right to challenge their removal in court, which he believed the Supreme Court mandated.

Drew Ensign, an attorney for the Justice Department, disagreed, saying that people slated for deportation would have a “minimum” of 24 hours to challenge their removal in court. He said no flights were scheduled for Friday night and he was unaware of any Saturday, but the Department of Homeland Security said it reserved the right to remove people then.

ICE said it would not comment on the litigation.

Also Friday, a Massachusetts judge made permanent his temporary ban on the administration deporting immigrants who have exhausted their appeals to countries other than their home countries unless they are informed of their destination and given a chance to object if they’d face torture or death there.

Some Venezuelans subject to Trump’s Alien Enemies Act have been sent to El Salvador and housed in its notorious main prison.

NEW YORK — Harvey Weinstein has been moved to a New York City hospital after a judge approved the ailing ex-studio boss’s request to stay there rather than in jail when he’s not in court for his #MeToo retrial.

Judge Paul Goetz late Thursday ordered that Weinstein be immediately relocated from the city’s notorious Rikers Island jail complex to the prison ward at Bellevue Hospital in Manhattan so he can receive necessary medical treatment.

Weinstein’s lawyers lobbied for the move as jury selection got underway this week.

They argued in court papers that being locked up in a sometimes freezing jail cell was exacerbating the Oscar-winning producer’s health issues, which include chronic myeloid leukemia, diabetes and walking difficulties that require a wheelchair to get in and out of court.

Goetz’s order will remain in effect at least until next Thursday, when he is set to hold a hearing to discuss the matter further.

A different judge, Curtis Farber, is presiding over Weinstein’s retrial. The case will resume Monday with more jury selection after nine jurors were picked this week. In all, 12 jurors and six alternates need to be seated.

Weinstein is being tried again on rape and sexual assault charges after New York’s highest court, the Court of Appeals, last year overturned his 2020 conviction and 23-year prison sentence and ordered a new trial, finding that improper rulings and prejudicial testimony tainted the original one.

Weinstein has pleaded not guilty and denies raping or sexually assaulting anyone.

Weinstein has been back and forth numerous times to Bellevue in recent months for treatment of various maladies. At a pretrial hearing in January, he railed against his treatment at Rikers, telling Farber he wanted to “get out of this hellhole as quickly as possible.”

Weinstein’s lawyers filed a legal claim against New York City last November, alleging he was receiving substandard medical treatment in unhygienic conditions at Rikers. The claim, which seeks $5 million in damages, argues that Weinstein has been returned to Rikers each time before fully recovering at the hospital.

The troubled jail complex has faced growing scrutiny for its mistreatment of detainees and dangerous conditions. Last year, a federal judge cleared the way for a possible federal takeover, finding the city had placed inmates in “unconstitutional danger.”

WASHINGTON — First the nation’s top law firms. Then its premier universities. Now, President Donald Trump is leaning on the advocacy groups that underpin U.S. civil society.

Trump said Thursday that the administration is looking at the tax-exempt status not just of Harvard, but environmental groups and specifically the ethics watchdog organization Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, or CREW. It could be a devastating financial blow to the nonprofit organizations — and his perceived political foes.

The president’s remarks, during an event at the White House, began to confirm what advocacy groups have been quietly warning: Trump’s campaign of retribution is coming next for them.

“It’s supposed to be a charitable organization,” Trump said about CREW, in particular. “The only charity they had is going after Donald Trump. So we’re looking at that. We’re looking at a lot of things.”

Trump and his team have been working their way through the nation’s institutions, threatening to chisel away at the independence and autonomy of the law firms, college campuses and now advocacy groups — or putting them at risk of losing their federal funds or professional livelihood.

It’s all coming quickly, not yet 100 days into the new administration, and in ways historically unheard of in this country for their speed and scope. And it’s sending shock waves reverberating throughout the American system.

“It’s a sad day in this country when organizations that provide critical services to their communities are under attack from their government,” said Cole Leiter, executive director of the advocacy group Americans Against Government Censorship. “No administration, Republican or Democratic, should be able to weaponize the weight of the government against their political enemies.”

On their own, Trump’s actions are an almost daily list of executive pronouncements from the White House. The Trump administration has issued orders against the law firms that had cases or attorneys perceived to be against him, and it has made demands of the universities over their rules around campus activism.

Thursday brought potentially more to the stack: Trump singled out CREW, the watchdog group whose founder, Norm Eisen, played a pivotal role in Trump’s first impeachment, and the environmental groups that largely stand at odds with his “drill baby drill” agenda.

“Tax exempt status — I mean, it’s a privilege. It’s really a privilege, and it’s been abused by a lot more than Harvard,” Trump said. “We’ll be making some statements. It’s a big deal.”

But taken together, the executive orders and actions and memos are making one thing clear: The Trump administration is eager to test new ways to flex executive power, and dare the courts and Congress to intervene. And there’s more expected to come.

Environmental, immigration and civil society advocacy groups have been bracing for potential threats to their tax-exempt status, according to a person familiar with the situation and granted anonymity to discuss it. The person said some expect Trump might start taking action against the environmental groups on Earth Day, which is Tuesday.

These are the largely nonprofit organizations and groups, many based in Washington, advocating for various communities, constituencies and causes.

Kieran Suckling, executive director of the Center for Biological Diversity, said environmental groups have heard that the Trump administration is preparing executive orders targeting the tax status of environmental groups that work on climate change, as well as that of any foundations that fund their work.

“Trump is marshaling all the power of government to punish his perceived enemies,” Suckling said. “We’ve got a crack legal team and will have him in court within 24 hours. We’re ready and waiting for him to come at us.”

CREW has been a leading ethics group in Washington, with Trump long the subject of its probes.

Ahead of the 2024 election, the group was part of the legal effort to disqualify Trump from regaining the White House under the 14th Amendment, in the aftermath of the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the Capitol. More recently, CREW sued over the firing of federal workers by Trump and the Department of Government Efficiency.

“For more than 20 years, CREW has exposed government corruption from politicians of both parties who violate the public trust and has worked to promote an ethical, transparent government,” said Jordan Libowitz, the organization’s vice president.

Trump’s attacks on civil society have created a climate that is potentially chilling for the organizations in question — but they have had mixed results.

Five of the major law firms and Trump reached a deal in which they agreed to provide a combined hundreds of millions of dollars in pro bono counsel to causes the administration says it supports. The firms are trying to avoid various sanctions, including terminated federal contracts, federal employment investigations over diversity hiring and others.

While Columbia University agreed to the Trump administration’s demands to overhaul its rules for public protests rather than risk billions of dollars in lost federal funds, Harvard rebuffed the administration and now faces a $2 billion federal funding freeze and the threat to its tax-exempt status.

The tax-exempt status allows nonprofit organizations to receive donations that are crucial to their financial bottom line. Changing that could, in some situations, lead to calamity.

“Good governance groups are the heart of a healthy democracy,” Libowitz said. “We will continue to do our work to ensure Americans have an ethical and accountable government.”

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Associated Press writers Matthew Daly and Tammy Webber in Fenton, Michigan, contributed to this report.

PHOENIX — Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs on Thursday vowed to veto all bills not already on her desk amid a standoff with the Republican-controlled Legislature over funding for a state agency that provides services for some of Arizona’s most vulnerable residents.

Hobbs is demanding that lawmakers find a bipartisan compromise that would guarantee funding through the end of the fiscal year for the state’s Division of Developmental Disabilities, which supports close to 60,000 people with autism, cerebral palsy, epilepsy, Down syndrome and other cognitive and intellectual disabilities.

Before signing off on a funding package, Republicans want to establish guardrails for the program, such as reducing the number of paid hours that parents who care for their children with disabilities can receive per week. Democrats want to approve funding first and discuss reforms later.

The strategy of holding back on signing bills isn’t new. Hobbs’ Republican predecessors also withheld their signatures over budget disputes.

Republicans became frustrated after learning that Hobbs was requesting about $13 million more in supplemental funding for the Division of Developmental Disabilities, despite having already released her executive budget proposal.

Republicans contend that Hobbs has mismanaged the funds — going so far as to convene an ad hoc committee earlier this month to discuss “executive budget mismanagement.” Rep. David Livingston, chair of the House Appropriations Committee, said during a hearing earlier this week that it was unacceptable for programs within the division to be shut down in early May because of a lack of funding.

House Speaker Steve Montenegro in a statement called the governor’s veto threat “political blackmail.”

Hobbs, who is up for reelection in 2026, claims that Republicans are leveraging the crisis for “political warfare.” The governor is willing to even veto legislation she supports so long as a bipartisan compromise is not reached, said her spokesperson Christian Slater.

“We have been waiting for far too long,” Slater said in an interview. “Families are at the brink.”

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Govindarao covers Arizona government and politics for The Associated Press, with a focus on women in state government. She is based in Phoenix.

LOS ANGELES — In the fight for the U.S. House, Democrats are hoping pop rock star power will help oust a long-serving Republican east of Los Angeles as the party looks to regain control of the chamber and slow President Donald Trump’s agenda.

Tim Myers, a Grammy-nominated former bassist for international hitmakers OneRepublic, announced Thursday he will challenge Rep. Ken Calvert in the battleground 41st District in Riverside County that stretches from the L.A. suburbs to the resort haven of Palm Springs.

“Ken Calvert has been in Washington for 30 years,” Myers says in a video announcing his campaign. The “status quo isn’t working.”

Christian Martinez, a spokesperson for the campaign arm of House Republicans, said in a statement that “Democrat Tim Myers is everything wrong with today’s radical left: a Hollywood liberal trying to fake his way into Riverside County.”

Myers grew up in Corona, most of which is in the district, but now lives in neighboring Los Angeles County.

At a time when competitive House contests are becoming scarcer nationwide, Democrats consider Calvert’s closely divided California district one of the party’s best opportunities to gain ground in the chamber, where Republicans hold a fragile 220-213 majority.

With Congress and the White House under Republican control — and Democrats facing an uphill fight to take the Senate in 2026 — the California contest will carry added importance as Democrats maneuver to retake the House to provide a counterweight to the Trump administration on issues from immigration to the environment.

Myers, a prolific producer, songwriter and solo artist, is positioning himself as a change agent in a race against one of the most senior members of the House. The 40-year-old Myers said he was in second grade when Calvert, the longest-serving Republican in the state’s congressional delegation, was first elected in 1992.

In the video that appears to have been filmed in a recording studio, Myers recalls growing up a pastor’s son in Corona, on the western edge of the Southern California district. He recounts the ups-and-downs of the notoriously cutthroat music business that eventually led him to found his own record label. He now lives in the tony enclave of Hidden Hills in neighboring Los Angeles County, a popular redoubt for musicians and actors.

Myers berates Trump policies that he says will hurt veterans and drive up consumer prices.

“Our community is being priced out of homeownership, groceries are more expensive every week and we’re constantly under threat from wildfires and rising crime,” Myers said in a statement. “It’s time for a change.”

Republicans hold a slim registration advantage in the district — less than 2 points over Democrats — and Calvert has beat back tough challenges in the last two elections. Calvert prevailed by about a 3-point edge in 2024, the same year Trump carried the district by 6 points over Democrat Kamala Harris, the former California U.S. senator and attorney general.

The campaign arm of House Democrats has named Calvert a top target for 2026, as he was in 2024. Calvert’s campaign raised over $1.3 million the first quarter of 2025.

California is known as a liberal protectorate. Democrats hold every statewide office, dominate the Legislature and congressional delegation and outnumber registered Republicans by a staggering 2-1 ratio. Still, Republicans retain pockets of political clout in the Southern California suburbs and vast rural stretches, including the Central Valley farm belt.

In 2024, a tough year for Democrats nationally, the party picked up three GOP-held House seats in California.

LANSING, Mich. — A former Michigan public health official and Democratic candidate for governor entered the race for the state’s open U.S. Senate seat on Thursday.

Abdul El-Sayed, 40, is the second Democrat to put his name in the running in what could be one of the most watched races in the 2026 midterm elections. He’s also the second candidate this week to launch a campaign to replace Democratic Sen. Gary Peters, who is not seeking reelection.

“It’s way too hard to survive here in the richest, most powerful country in the world and it should not be this hard to get by,” he told The Associated Press.

El-Sayed ran for governor in 2018 as a progressive Democrat and was endorsed by Sen. Bernie Sanders. He came in second in the Democratic primary, losing to Gretchen Whitmer by more than 20 points and beating now U.S. Rep. Shri Thanedar by more than 12 points. Whitmer went on to win the general election and is in the midst of a second term. She can’t run again because of term limits.

A resident of Ann Arbor, El-Sayed recently served as director of the Department of Health, Human & Veterans Services in Wayne County, home to Detroit. Before that, he was the public health director of the city after it declared bankruptc y in 2013.

El-Sayed said he’s inspired to run for Senate after the overhaul of the federal government brought on by President Donald Trump and Elon Musk, including changes and cuts made at the nation’s top health agencies. But he said Democrats must do more than just run on the opposite of Republican policies.

“You have to come with your own independent analysis of what you think the problem is and how you want to solve it, if you want to earn the trust of the public,” he said.

El-Sayed joins state Sen. Mallory McMorrow in the Democratic field of candidates looking to replace Peters. Others considering a run include U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens and Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel.

On the Republican side, former U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers launched his bid on Monday after losing a Senate race last year by 19,000 votes to Democrat Elissa Slotkin.

DES MOINES, Iowa — A 30-year-old community service program that sends young adults to work on projects across the U.S. was the latest target of the Trump administration ‘s campaign to slash government spending.

AmeriCorps’ National Civilian Community Corps informed volunteers Tuesday that they would exit the program early “due to programmatic circumstances beyond your control,” according to an email obtained by The Associated Press.

The unsigned memo to corps members said NCCC’s “ability to sustain program operations” was impacted by the Trump administration’s priorities and President Donald Trump’s executive order creating the Department of Government Efficiency. Members would be officially dismissed April 30.

AmeriCorps did not respond Wednesday to an AP email seeking comment.

AmeriCorps NCCC, which completed its 30th year last year, employs more than 2,000 people ages 18 to 26 participating for a roughly 10-month service term, according to the program’s website. The teams of corps members are tasked with working on several projects related to education, housing, urban and rural development, land conservation, and disaster relief, driving from one assignment to another across the country.

The agency pays for volunteers’ basic expenses, including housing, meals and a “limited health benefit,” as well as a “modest” living allowance, according to the program. The program also provided members who complete their 1,700-hour service term with funding for future education expenses or to apply to certain student loans. That benefit was worth about $7,300 this service year.

Funding for AmeriCorps and NCCC has long been scrutinized when Congress talks of budget trims. The federal agency’s budget showed NCCC funding amounted to nearly $38 million last fiscal year.

A White House official said the Trump administration questioned using taxpayer money for the program. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly.

The traditional NCCC volunteers worked with sponsors including community and faith-based based organizations, nonprofits, schools, cities and tribes. Some of the recent service projects included working at a food bank in Washington state, building homes with Habitat for Humanity in North Carolina, and facilitating after school programs in Arizona.

AmeriCorps NCCC also has a partnership with the Federal Emergency Management Agency and, more recently, the U.S. Forest Service. Those volunteers over the last year responded to tornadoes and flooding in Iowa, hurricane damage in North Carolina and wildfires in California, among other natural disasters, when volunteers are especially visible.

Young corps members were told Tuesday night to pack up. Many started long road trips from their latest assignment to campuses in Vicksburg, Mississippi; Vinton, Iowa; Sacramento, California; and Aurora, Colorado. Members would receive their allowance and health coverage through the end of April, according to the memo.

Members were told in the memo that those who have completed 15% or more of their term would be eligible for a prorated amount of their education award.

But Kate Raftery, who was NCCC director from 2011 to 2014, said she’s worried about the corps members, many of whom were the “unusual suspects” who “saw this as a really impactful education or career launching pad.”

“They were not young people who had been striving to be service members somewhere,” Raftery said. “They were looking for an opportunity to improve their life. They were looking for an opportunity to build some skills, and to be part of a community.”

AUSTIN, Texas — Former Republican U.S. Rep. Mayra Flores is recovering after being hospitalized Tuesday shortly after announcing that she will run for a U.S. House seat in 2026, according to her campaign.

In a statement posted on X, the campaign said “Mayra Flores faced a sudden health scare, but thanks to the incredible care she received and the support of her loved ones, she is now fully recovering and feeling stronger than ever.”

Flores, who is from Texas, launched a bid Tuesday to unseat Democratic Rep. Henry Cuellar. Her campaign announced just hours later on social media that she had been hospitalized with no further details.

Flores was the first Mexican-born congresswoman in the U.S. House after winning a 2022 special election in another Texas border district. She served about six months in Congress but lost her bid for a full term.

Her campaign did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment about why she was hospitalized.

Flores’ challenge highlights Republicans’ growing confidence in making gains in South Texas, a region that was once a stronghold for Democrats where the GOP has slowly chipped away at support for the party in recent elections.

President Donald Trump flipped several counties near the border — including the two most populous, Hidalgo and Cameron — in November. Starr County, with a predominately Hispanic and working-class population, broke generations of precedent when it flipped for Trump in 2024.

Cuellar, who has represented Texas’ 28th Congressional District for two decades, won reelection last year against a Republican newcomer who had little outside support. It was a test of Cuellar’s resiliency after he and his wife were indicted in 2024 on bribery charges. Prosecutors allege the couple accepted nearly $600,000 in bribes from an Azerbaijan-controlled energy company and a bank in Mexico. Cuellar has said that he and his wife are innocent, and the case remains ongoing.

“Rep. Cuellar remains fully focused on his work in Congress and steadfast in his commitment to serving the people of TX-28,” his campaign said in a statement.

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Nadia Lathan is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.

Fresh from a courtroom loss over The Associated Press’ access to the presidency, the White House on Tuesday put forward a new media policy that sharply curtails access to Donald Trump by news agencies that serve media outlets around the world. It was the latest attempt by the new administration to control coverage of its activities.

The move would block the AP and other wire services that serve billions of readers through thousands of news outlets. It comes after a judge ruled the White House had violated the organization’s free speech by banning it because it disagreed with the outlet’s decision not to rename the Gulf of Mexico.

While outlining a new “pool coverage” policy for small spaces like the Oval Office and Air Force One, the White House also said it will ultimately give press secretary Karoline Leavitt the final say over who gets to question her boss, according to people who have seen the plan.

The White House did not return messages for comment on Tuesday evening.

A federal judge last week ruled the White House improperly punished the AP for refusing to rename the Gulf of Mexico by blocking its reporters and photographers from covering the events. U.S. District Judge Trevor N. McFadden ordered the administration to treat the AP as it does other news organizations.

A day after defying McFadden’s ruling and continuing AP’s ban when Trump and El Salvador President Nayib Bukele met with reporters in the Oval Office, the White House leaked a new policy to selected journalists.

For many years, the White House Correspondents Association has run the pool for the limited space events, and each time it has included reporters from the wire services AP, Reuters and Bloomberg. One print reporter was also allowed, selected on a rotating basis from more than 30 news outlets.

The White House now says it will lump the three wire services with print reporters for two slots — meaning roughly three dozen reporters will rotate for two regular slots. Wire services typically report and write stories that are used in multiple locations around the country and the planet.

Even with the rotation, the White House said Trump’s press secretary “shall retain day-to-day discretion to determine composition of the pool.” The new policy says reporters will also be allowed in “irrespective of the substantive viewpoint expressed by an outlet.”

In a statement, the AP’s Lauren Easton said the outlet was deeply disappointed that rather than restore the AP’s access, the White House instead chose restrictions over all of the wire services.

“The wire services represent thousands of news organizations across the U.S. and the world over,” said Easton, an AP spokeswoman. “Our coverage is used by local newspapers and television stations in all 50 states to inform their communities.

“The administration’s actions continue to disregard the fundamental American freedom to speak without government control or retaliation,” Easton said Tuesday night.

The independent White House Correspondents’ Association said the administration’s insistence on retaining control over who covers the president shows that it is unwilling to guarantee that it would not continue “viewpoint discrimination.”

“The government should not be able to control the independent media that covers it,” said Eugene Daniels, the association’s president.

Under Leavitt, the White House has given greater access to news outlets friendly to Trump. That was visible Tuesday, when the first reporter Leavitt addressed during a briefing asked two questions while also praising Trump policy.

At Monday’s Oval Office meeting, Trump bristled at questions from CNN’s Kaitlan Collins about a man deported to an El Salvador prison, at one point accusing CNN of “hating our country.” He made it a point to contrast her questions with a non-pointed one from another reporter.

Despite the occasional fireworks, Trump has made himself accessible to the media more than his predecessor, former President Joe Biden. Cramped-quarters events, particularly in the Oval Office, are some of his favorite places to talk — rendering the new access policy all the more impactful.

The new policy advanced on Tuesday did not address access for photographers. At an earlier court hearing about the AP’s case, the outlet’s chief White House photographer, Evan Vucci, and correspondent Zeke Miller testified about how the ban has hurt the business of a news agency built to quickly get news and images to its customers.

The dispute stems from AP’s decision not to follow the president’s executive order to rename the Gulf of Mexico, although AP style does cite Trump’s wish that it be called the Gulf of America. McFadden agreed with AP’s argument that the government cannot punish the news organization for what it says — for exercising its right to free speech.

The White House has argued that press access to the president is a privilege, not a right, that it should control — much like it decides to whom Trump gives one-on-one interviews. In court papers filed last weekend, his lawyers signaled that even with McFadden’s decision, the AP’s days of unchallenged access to open presidential events were over.

“No other news organization in the United States receives the level of guaranteed access previously bestowed upon the AP,” the administration argued. “The AP may have grown accustomed to its favored status, but the Constitution does not require that such status endure in perpetuity.”

The administration has appealed McFadden’s ruling, and is scheduled to be in an appeals court on Thursday to argue that ruling should be put on hold until the merits of the case are fully decided, perhaps by the U.S. Supreme Court.

The administration has not curtailed AP access to Leavitt’s briefings over the past two months. It has blocked access to events in the East Room to White House-credentialed AP reporters — until Tuesday, when one was allowed into an event that involved the Navy football team.

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David Bauder writes about media for the AP. Follow him at http://x.com/dbauder and https://bsky.app/profile/dbauder.bsky.social