Imagine you have an exclusive key to the door to history. You cannot bring anyone with you. You cannot video tape what you see. Instead, you must write down your observations on a notepad and publish them, sharing your experiences with the rest of the country. Almost everyday you open that door, watching as history unfolds before your eyes as you furiously scribble down your observations. However, one day, when you are walking up to the door and pulling the key from your back pocket, an important person snatches the key from your hand, and says you are banned from the room because you are producing “fake news.”

While this story may seem exaggerated, it illustrates exactly what CNN, MS NOW, and Politico reporters experienced when they were banned from the White House this September. On Friday, September 18, Trump announced he was banning the three outlets from the White House, effective immediately. The next morning, the administration snatched select reporters’ press passes and turned them away at the gate. Secret Service officials offered no explanation as to why reporters with the three outlets were denied credentials. The president justified the move in a post to Truth Social: “Media Outlets shouldn’t be able to constantly write or report FICTION and LIES when they’re covering the President of the United States, the Trump Administration, or the United States of America.” (The capitalization is original to Trump’s post). BBC News aptly described this move as “the latest twist in [the president’s] fraught relationship with media outlets.”

In response, the three media outlets stressed their constitutional right to the freedom of the press. This is a no-brainer: the First Amendment clearly orders there should be no law that “[abridges] the freedom of speech, or of the press.” For years, the First Amendment has protected the rights of the press, preventing censorship and governmental inference in publishing. Beyond the constitutional right to a free press, the due process clause of the Fifth Amendment ensures that individuals cannot be deprived of their rights without fair and impartial procedures. Plus, the First and Fifth Amendments are, in fact, what keep the U.S. the “free country” that Trump promised his voters.

Banning CNN, MS NOW, and Politico from the White House crossed a crystal-clear constitutional line. It is not surprising that a federal judge ordered the administration to lift the ban just four days after it went into effect.

This is not the first time, however, where the White House has denied entry passes to select reporters. Robert Sherrill, a correspondent for the left-leaning publication The Nation, was blocked from entering the White House during both the Lyndon B. Johnson and Richard Nixon administrations. After years of litigation, a circuit court judge ruled in Sherill v. Knight that the two administrations violated both the First and Fifth Amendments, holding that the White House must provide adequate notice, an opportunity for rebuttal, and publish a final written decision. The Trump administration did none of this. In fact, in the Johnson and Nixon cases, the Secret Service denied Sherrill’s press pass due to security reasons. In this case with CNN, MS NOW, and Politico, Trump revoked their passes because he did not subscribe to their coverage of his presidency.

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As Americans, we cannot take the president’s actions last month. In fact, they pose a more worrisome threat. Media watchdogs generally agree that CNN, MS NOW, and Politico all lean leftward. The news outlets Trump characterized as “fake” and “fictional,” are actually ones that produce coverage the president may not agree with. This is incredibly unsettling. With ex-aides and allies of Donald Trump calling him a “poster boy for fascism” and “fascist to the core,” the free press’ right to report openly, fairly, and without fear or favor remains ever-important. And without a free press, the exclusive door to history and news remains locked for everyone.