This is one of the dumbest things PDJT has done.
https://www.quimbee.com/cases/sherrill-v-knight
If you read the actual text from the Appeals Court, it suggests that there are loads of different ways that denying a press pass does NOT violate the First Amendment...
And then specifically outlines an exception.
If an established journalist is being refused a press pass for no reason other than the POTUS or the Security Service not liking what the domestic journalist (or the domestic organisation the journalist is working for) says.
The finding was even referenced here, in explaining why Russian journalists were denied access.
The problem with what Trump’s done is, it very firmly fits the definition of that exemption.
An established journalist, and a camera crew, and a sound crew, that were all serving an established pool function (that “round robins” the effort of covering events with the best cameras and sound equipment), were effectively banned from turning up.
But the pool arrangement has nothing to do with the editorial position of the networks. It’s the mechanism by which one well-equipped network attends an event and then distributes everything collected from that event (including video footage and audio, handouts, interviews, vox pops) to other outlets. There are other organisations that receive the pool information which actively support POTUS.
POTUS’ legions of loyal social media commentators have frequently benefited from access to the pool footage, free of charge, for their discussion points and analyses.
Banning MSNOW, CNN, Politico and effectively knocking the pool rotation out of whack, doesn’t just block their editors from using the pool footage to promote “Fake News”, it also blocks pretty much everybody else from being able to hear exactly what was said, how it was said, and how it was received.
So it hurts the MAGA commentariat too.