Updated September 21, 2026 at 6:48 AM MDT
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CNN, MS NOW and Politico plan to sue President Trump jointly for violating their constitutional rights after his administration cut off access to the White House to their journalists, on the basis of his complaint that they were covering him unfairly.
"This ban could not be a more direct assault on the First Amendment nor a more blatant violation of our most fundamental constitutional principles," the lawsuit, set to be filed when federal courts open Monday morning, says.
It cites the news organizations' First Amendment rights not to be punished by the federal government over their speech — in this instance, their news coverage. It also cites the Fifth Amendment rights to due process: the government cannot take away rights or privileges without any warning or process to intercede or appeal the decision.
The White House has not yet responded to NPR's requests for comment.
The lead attorney on the case, noted First Amendment lawyer Theodore J. Boutrous of Gibson Dunn, tells NPR that legal precedents overwhelmingly support the news organizations' case.
Among them was a ruling Boutrous secured as attorney for NPR and three Colorado public radio stations. A federal judge found that a White House executive order barring any federal funds from going to the network or other public media outlets was unconstitutional. (Last year, the Republican-led Congress nonetheless pulled back all funding for public media at Trump's urging.)
Trump has lost many other legal challenges to his efforts to restrict the press, including in his first term the revocation of press credentials for Jim Acosta, then a CNN White House correspondent. A case filed by the Associated Press is still in the courts. It's over the White House's efforts to punish its refusal to call the Gulf of Mexico by Trump's preferred name of the Gulf of America.
Trump was not subtle on Friday in explaining why he wanted to punish CNN, MS NOW (formerly MSNBC) and Politico.
"Media Outlets shouldn't be able to constantly write or report FICTION and LIES when they're covering the President of the United States, the Trump Administration, or the United States of America," Trump posted to Truth Social. "Other Fake News Media Outlets to follow."
In a back-and-forth with reporters at the White House not long after, Trump said his decision had not been sparked by any specific reporting, but the accumulation of what he called two years of unfair and negative coverage.
"There's something wrong with a country that can allow people to write purposefully negative things," Trump told reporters Friday. "Now, if they want to write them, that's fine, but I don't have to let them into my — into the people's house."
Starting over the weekend, journalists for the three news organizations said their reporting teams were barred from entry, even though they have permanent press passes.
"As a result of the ban, [the news organizations] have lost the ability to perform the essential newsgathering at the seat of the Executive Branch, where critically important newsworthy events occur every day," the planned lawsuit says. "The ban irreparably curtails the organizations' speech — preventing them from being able to publish stories they otherwise would — each day it remains in effect."
Disclosure: This story was written and reported by NPR Media Correspondent David Folkenflik and edited by NPR Acting Chief Business Editor Emily Kopp. Under NPR's protocol for reporting on itself, no corporate official or news executive reviewed this story before it was posted publicly.
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