On October 26, 2026, the Knight Institute and the Media Freedom and Information Access Clinic at Yale Law School filed a lawsuit challenging President Trump’s policy of expelling journalists and news organizations from the White House for reporting that he characterizes as “fake news.” Filed on behalf of a human rights advocate, a media watchdog, a historian, a civics teacher, a legal journalist, and a student journalist, the lawsuit contends that the president’s effort to destroy the White House press corps’ independence is an unconstitutional attack on the public’s right to trustworthy and undistorted reporting about the president and his policies.

The lawsuit argues that the spaces that the White House has opened up to the White House Press Corps for newsgathering and related activities are a “public forum” under the First Amendment and that the government can’t constitutionally exclude news organizations from these spaces on the basis of viewpoint.

Status: Complaint and motion for a preliminary injunction filed on October 26, 2026.

Case Information: Roth v. Trump, No. 1:26-cv-09327 (S.D.N.Y.)