A federal appeals court upheld a previous ruling that the White House violated a reporter’s constitutional rights by suspending his press pass.
The Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled on Friday that the White House was not allowed to suspend Brian Karem, a reporter for Playboy, after an incident with conservative commentator Sebastian Gorka. The three-judge panel unanimously ruled that the White House violated his constitutional rights because they had no specific guidelines on behavior and potential ramifications at the time of the incident.
The judges’ ruling upheld a previous injunction issued by a federal district court judge that also ruled the White House violated Karem’s rights, which the Justice Department had appealed.
“Karem’s due process claim is likely to succeed because, on this record, nothing put him on notice of ‘the magnitude of the sanction’ — a monthlong loss of his White House access, an eon in today’s news business — that the White House ‘might impose’ for his purportedly unprofessional conduct at the non-press-conference event,” Judge David Tatel wrote in his ruling.
Karem celebrated the legal victory on Twitter.
“You cannot beat us down on police lines,” Karem stated while also tagging President Trump, his own lawyer, Theodore Boutrous Jr., and the press freedoms group Reporters Without Borders. “You can’t intimidate us by pulling our press passes. You cannot deny us due process. We were here before you. We will be here after you.”
The incident that started the debacle occurred last July. During Trump’s July 11 social media summit, which didn’t include Facebook or Twitter, but rather mainly right-wing social media influencers, Karem and Gorka got into a screaming match. Karem threatened to get violent with Gorka, who hurled insults at him.
The White House decided to suspend his press pass for 30 days, to which he sued over, in August.
White House Correspondents’ Association President Jon Karl did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
