Press Pass Revoked

Arjen Rudd: Diplomatic immunity!
Roger Murtaugh: It's just been revoked.
--Lethal Weapon 2

Pat Buchanan discusses the White House decision to pull the press pass of a CNN pundit and CNN's subsequent lawsuit against the president. The suit claims that First Amendment rights have been violated.

This is laughable. Read the amendment. There is no violation.

The president has chosen to revoke a privilege, not a right. The White House press corps is granted a privilege (i.e., personal access to the president) that is not available to other media. The president can set the rules of the game and take away privileges from those deemed not to follow those rules.

As Buchanan correctly observes, the First Amendment guarantees that media can say what they want about Donald Trump. It does not entitle anyone in the media to a front row seat at a White House press conference.

Nor does it force a president to respond to the media's questions.