- United States
- Md.
- Letter
States start working on Blocking Executive Overreach on Press Access — Protect the First Amendment
Banning news networks from public spaces — including the people's House — is unconstitutional, and you need to act to stop it. No executive has the legal authority to decide which press organizations can access government buildings. That is not a power the Constitution grants to any president, and it is not a power Congress and States should allow to be seized without a fight.
The First Amendment does not come with an asterisk that reads "unless the administration dislikes the coverage." Restricting press access based on editorial viewpoint is textbook viewpoint discrimination, and courts have consistently held that government cannot pick winners and losers in the press pool.
America does not have kings. The moment we treat press access as a privilege the executive can revoke, we have handed the White House a censorship tool that no future administration should ever inherit. Draw the line now.