■ A federal judge ordered the Trump administration to restore White House access to journalists from three news outlets, calling the ban unconstitutional on due process grounds.
■ Trump’s action against the press is “clearly unconstitutional” and a clear case of viewpoint discrimination, reasoned Ken Paulson, director of the Free Speech Center at Middle Tennessee State University.
■ U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche on ABC’s This Week said that what the Trump administration considers “one-sided news” is a national security issue that warrants barring the press.
■ When asked about the Trump ban, Pope Leo XIV affirmed the need for media to cover public figures, telling reporters that “you are all welcome” at his events.
Bad ‘Love.’ The Trump administration’s television ad urging Americans to “defeat communism” is an apparent breach of a long-running White House practice of separating public funding from political advertising, USA Today reported.
■ Legislation to bar government officials from pressuring private companies to censor speech was approved by the U.S. Senate Commerce Committee. The decision was reached after committee members cited threats from the Trump administration against late-night talk shows, Reuters reported.
■ Cases concerning free speech and religious freedom will be among the large docket items before justices as the U.S. Supreme Court begins its October term, wrote Jonathan Turley for The Hill.
■ A U.S. District Court judge ordered the Department of Human Services to stop violating the First Amendment rights of a man who emailed criticisms of an ICE director and was threatened with arrest.
■ A judge in Iowa has dismissed a Trump lawsuit against the Des Moines Register and its former pollster over what the president called inaccurate poll results.
Poor view. A writer/humorist who watched an hour of Trump TV recalled in an opinion piece for The Guardian that it was full of the president’s vanity and myopia but also deeply dull.
■ Journalists have followed the Society of Professional Journalists’ Code of Ethics for a century, but now the age of artificial intelligence has prompted editors to give it a reboot.
■ Americans do value press freedom although some support government restrictions on reporting in some instances, a Pew Research Center study showed.
■ Active-duty military members became de-facto photojournalists when they leaked photos of damaged U.S. military planes and bases to CBS News.
■ A secret battle between the Department of Justice and tech giants over the disclosure of a reporter’s LinkedIn interactions was revealed during an argument in federal court, Politico reported.
Get with God? U.S. Air Force airmen and guardians face uncertainty over completing a mandatory directive to align their religious beliefs with one of 31 options on the Department of Defense’s standardized list of religious affiliation codes. Unlike on past lists, atheism is not a choice, raising freedom from religion concerns.
■ A Tennessee law that prevented adults from giving information to minors about out-of-state abortions will remain blocked, a federal three-judge panel has ruled.
■ Attorneys for multifaith and nonreligious Arkansas families have urged an appellate court to block a state law mandating the display of the Ten Commandments in all public-school classrooms, the ACLU reported.
■ A federal judge has cleared the way – for now -- for Oklahoma to open the nation’s first religious charter school.
■ A federal judge has cleared the way – for now -- for Oklahoma to open the nation’s first religious charter school.
■ Billy Graham’s granddaughter, Cissie Graham Lynch, is President Trump’s pick to serve as the next U.S. ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom.
