White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt speaks during the daily press briefing in the Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House on March 26, 2025 in Washington, D.C.  (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON — A federal judge sided with The Associated Press Tuesday in a case alleging the Trump administration denied the wire service access to restricted spaces in the White House due to its editorial decision to continue using the term “Gulf of Mexico” rather than “Gulf of America.”

District Judge Trevor McFadden for the District of Columbia granted the AP a preliminary injunction on the merits of the case. McFadden wrote that the news outlet is likely to succeed on its First Amendment and retaliation arguments in further court proceedings, and that the White House’s action has caused irreparable harm to the news agency.

The legal battle tests decades of established press access for the AP in the White House, which was curtailed after President Donald Trump declared the term “Gulf of America” should be used rather than “Gulf of Mexico.”

The injunction orders the White House to immediately rescind the denial of AP’s access to the Oval Office, Air Force One and “other limited spaces based on the AP’s viewpoint when such spaces are made open to other members of the White House press pool.”

The order also states the administration’s press team “shall immediately rescind their viewpoint-based denial of the AP’s access to events open to all credentialed White House journalists.”

The mandate will remain in place while the case is carried out at the district court level, though the White House is likely to appeal the case.

In his 41-page order, McFadden, appointed by Trump in his first term in office, stated the analysis of the AP’s arguments is “straightforward” and that ramifications for the organization have “undoubtedly been adverse.”

“The AP made an editorial decision to continue using ‘Gulf of Mexico’ in its Stylebook. The Government responded publicly with displeasure and explicitly announced it was curtailing the AP’s access to the Oval Office, press pool events, and East Room activities. If there is a benign explanation for the Government’s decision, it has not been presented here,” McFadden wrote.

The AP and the Trump administration presented evidence to McFadden during a March 27 hearing.

The judge contends in his order that the AP clearly showed that its print reporters “have been systematically and almost completely excluded from events open to the broader White House press corps since February 13, while its photographers have suffered curtailed access.”

“The Government declined to offer witnesses in rebuttal. The Court credits the detailed timeline that the AP built through testimony and evidence,” he wrote.

The White House did not immediately respond for comment.

Trump and administration officials also did not immediately react on social media.