WAPO; This Is Your Government On Trump

[lindysalsagal]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/erik-wemple/wp/2018/11/16/this-is-your-government-on-trump/?utm_term=.00b1de864949

Bureaucratic improvisation has never been a more precious skill than under President Trump, a man who will say anything, do anything at any time. Most of the actions are ill-considered, the product of bad moods, such as when, on Nov. 7, he scolded CNN’s Jim Acosta during a news conference following an election that ousted Republicans from the House majority. “I’ll tell you what: CNN should be ashamed of itself having you working for them. You are a rude, terrible person. You shouldn’t be working for CNN,” Trump said to Acosta after some sparring about immigration. “You’re a very rude person. The way you treat Sarah Huckabee is horrible. And the way you treat other people are horrible. You shouldn’t treat people that way.”

Hours later, Acosta discovered that his hard pass to the White House had been revoked.

Thus began a process in which CNN appealed for Acosta’s reinstatement and, when that effort produced no results, sued top White House officials over the matter, on due process and First Amendment grounds. The CNN complaint argued that the White House had failed to comply with ground rules stemming from the 1977 case Sherrill v. Knight, which held that the First Amendment “liberty interest” in a White House pass required appropriate procedures before revocation. Or, in the words of the court: “In our view, the procedural requirements of notice of the factual bases for denial, an opportunity for the applicant to respond to these, and a final written statement of the reasons for denial are compelled by the foregoing determination that the interest of a bona fide Washington correspondent in obtaining a White House press pass is protected by the first amendment.”