On October 16, 2018, PEN America, Inc. brought this lawsuit against President Donald Trump in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. The plaintiff, an organization representing writers and literary professionals, sued under 28 U.S.C. § 2201(a) alleging that the Presidents used his power against media and press to violate the First Amendment freedom of speech and the press. PEN was represented by the Media Freedom and Information Access clinic at Yale Law School and Protect Democracy. The case was assigned to Judge Lorna G. Schofield.

Specifically, the complaint alleged that President Trump used, or threatened to use the regulatory and enforcement powers of government to punish the speech of journalists in at least four ways: initiating a government review to raise postal rates to punish the owner of the Washington Post; directing DOJ enforcement actions against media companies including CNN’s parent company; interfering with White House press access; and threatening to revoke broadcast licenses. The complaint also alleged that President Trump expressed his animus toward media entities for their coverage of him and then threatened government retaliation. PEN sought declaratory and injunctive relief.

The plaintiff filed an amended complaint on February 6, 2019. In the new complaint, PEN included allegations related to the President’s threatened and actual revocations of security clearances of media commentators and White House press credentials, including those of PEN America member and CNN reporter Jim Acosta.

The case is ongoing and a pretrial conference is set for March 2019.

Abigail DeHart - 02/12/2019


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