White House Says Access Is a 'Privilege' in Court Filing Defending Media Ban

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/23/business/trump-cnn-politico-ms-now-ban.html

19•whack•2h ago

Comments

legitster•1h ago

What's crazy is when asked at one point, Trump specifically referred to it as the "ban on free press". So rhetorically it's not like he's dancing around the constitutionality.

Neywiny•1h ago

First term was somewhat coy. Second term is "yes we're violating the Constitution/law. What are you gonna do about it? Nothing? Ok cool I'll go do that again" over and over and over

dataflow•1h ago

I feel like this they're deliberately framing it this way to lay a trap for the courts, because accepting this framing doesn't really seem to leave a whole lot of legal wiggle room. After all, legally speaking, what is it exactly, if not a privilege? If it's a right, then basically any citizen should be allowed in, subject to fair/non-discriminatory constraints, like capacity... is/should that be the case? If it's neither then what is it?

iAMkenough•1h ago

I’m curious how a Jan. 6 insurrectionist would answer this question.

Any pardoned felons here?

skinfaxi•50m ago

Courts navigate this fine line already even for their own courtrooms. There are restrictions on rights like time/place restrictions, for instance.

bradleyjg•48m ago

> because accepting this framing doesn't really seem to leave a whole lot of legal wiggle room.

No, it’s not a problem. The government can’t grant or withdraw a privilege for impermissible reasons.

frogperson•1h ago

Rights must be demanded and defended constanrly, otherwise some tin pot dictator will take them without much of a fight.

Do you what your rights or not?

AndrewKemendo•59m ago

If someone else can take it away it was never a right

skinfaxi•53m ago

People can take your life from you, do you not have the right to live?

AndrewKemendo•47m ago

No you don’t, thousands of people are murdered everyday

There is nothing and nobody guaranteeing your life

mthoms•42m ago

That's not what a "right" is.

AlotOfReading•30m ago

There's perfectly legitimate ways to argue against the existence of natural rights (see Bentham), but this strawman ain't it.

AndrewKemendo•9m ago

At least someone’s done some research on the topic

My guess is that the crowd here needs to go and actually do a little bit more philosophical reading maybe start with deleuze

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