The White House Press-Access Fight Reaches Federal Court

Lawyers for the White House and the three media outlets banned from the property argued Wednesday over the constitutional rights of journalists, at a hearing in federal court. The shape of the dispute is what makes it notable: the question in play is not whether those outlets can publish, but whether they can stand in the building. An access ban litigated as a constitutional matter is a different kind of fight from the usual scramble over credentials.