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{"id":27237,"date":"2026-09-22T17:50:11","date_gmt":"2026-09-22T17:50:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/appeals-courts-capitol-steps-ruling-may-signal-trouble-for-trump-on-media-ban\/"},"modified":"2026-09-22T17:50:11","modified_gmt":"2026-09-22T17:50:11","slug":"appeals-courts-capitol-steps-ruling-may-signal-trouble-for-trump-on-media-ban","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/appeals-courts-capitol-steps-ruling-may-signal-trouble-for-trump-on-media-ban\/","title":{"rendered":"Appeals court\u2019s Capitol steps ruling may signal trouble for Trump on media ban"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p>A federal appeals court ruling Tuesday on demonstrators\u2019 access to the steps of the Capitol could bode poorly for President Donald Trump\u2019s attempt to ban three media organizations from the White House.<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/media.cadc.uscourts.gov\/opinions\/docs\/2026\/09\/24-5207-2194324.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">majority opinion<\/a>, written by Trump appointee Neomi Rao, concluded that the East Steps of the Capitol are a \u201cnonpublic forum\u201d \u2014 just like most areas of the White House grounds, including the press facilities. While the government may impose restrictions on access to those nonpublic areas, the limits must be \u201cviewpoint neutral,\u201d apply \u201cobjective, workable standards\u201d and not permit officials to exercise \u201cunbridled discretion over a forum\u2019s use,\u201d the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals panel concluded.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA regulation that grants the government arbitrary control over who may speak invites the suppression of disfavored viewpoints and undermines the First Amendment\u2019s core protections,\u201d wrote Rao, who was joined in the majority by Judge Karen Henderson, a George H.W. Bush appointee.<\/p>\n<p>The ruling, on the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/2026\/09\/21\/timothy-kelly-judge-white-house-ban-lawsuit-01086120\" target=\"_blank\">eve of a hearing over restoring White House access<\/a>for Blue Light News, BLN and MS NOW, reaffirms the D.C. Circuit\u2019s longstanding First Amendment precedents at an inopportune time for Trump. The president has explicitly <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/2026\/09\/21\/news-outlets-trump-banned-from-white-house-announce-lawsuit-01085995\" target=\"_blank\">described his ban on the three outlets<\/a> as a punishment for publishing what he calls \u201cfake news.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFake News people and publications that only write negatively, and who violate our National Security by writing false and defamatory stories with unknown \u2018sources,\u2019 shouldn\u2019t be allowed access to the most important Office anywhere in the World,\u201d Trump <a href=\"https:\/\/truthsocial.com\/@realDonaldTrump\/posts\/117310724294153031\" target=\"_blank\">said on social media<\/a> Monday.<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/blogs\/politico-press\/2026\/09\/21\/joint-statement-from-cnn-ms-now-and-politico-01086012\" target=\"_blank\">outlets have said<\/a> their access was revoked because the White House objected to their reporting and that the ban \u201cthreatens press freedom and the public\u2019s right to independent journalism free from government interference.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The D.C. Circuit would hear any appeals in the litigation over Trump\u2019s media ban, and Trump has in fact already said he anticipates filing an appeal, presuming that he will be dealt a defeat in district court.<\/p>\n<p>The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n<p>The D.C. Circuit\u2019s Tuesday ruling stemmed from a lawsuit brought by Patrick Mahoney, a clergyman who sought to hold prayer vigils and demonstrations on the East Steps of the Capitol several months after the Jan. 6, 2021 attack, which resulted in new access restrictions. His permit was denied in part based on Capitol Police regulations that prohibit public demonstrations on the steps unless they are sponsored by a member of Congress.<\/p>\n<p>Though the case has inched through the courts for years, Tuesday\u2019s ruling resolves a key question, labeling the Capitol\u2019s East Steps a \u201cnonpublic forum\u201d for which congressional authorities may restrict public access \u2014 in part because lawmakers use those steps to enter and exit the building.<\/p>\n<p>But allowing members of Congress to sponsor gatherings on the steps creates an arbitrary system, the majority concluded.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBecause the protection of unpopular speech and advocacy is central to the First Amendment, we cannot leave it to the selective enforcement of members,\u201d Rao wrote.<\/p>\n<p>Notably, Rao\u2019s opinion cites <a href=\"https:\/\/media.cadc.uscourts.gov\/opinions\/docs\/2025\/04\/24-5004-2109746.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">a D.C. Circuit ruling<\/a> last year that concluded \u201cit would be unreasonable to control access to White House press facilities through standardless discretion.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The third judge on the panel, Clinton appointee Judith Rogers, dissented, but her opinion was even more protective of free-speech rights.<\/p>\n<p>Rogers said she agreed with her colleagues that the \u201cselective exception\u201d for demonstrations sponsored by lawmakers was unconstitutional. However, she said she would have held that the lower portion of the Capitol steps was a public forum where the government was obligated to permit protest activity.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A federal appeals court ruling Tuesday on demonstrators\u2019 access to the steps of the Capitol could bode poorly for President Donald Trump\u2019s attempt to ban three media organizations from the White House. The majority opinion, written by Trump appointee Neomi Rao, concluded that the East Steps of the Capitol are a \u201cnonpublic forum\u201d \u2014 just [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27237","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-congress"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27237","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27237"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27237\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27237"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27237"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27237"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}