Judge Weighs Restoring White House Press Access Via Pop Quiz on the First Amendment
A federal hearing over a press ban took a turn toward standardized testing, with credentials reportedly contingent on multiple-choice mastery of constitutional law.
The hearing, meant to settle whether three media outlets should regain access to the White House grounds, paused Wednesday afternoon when the presiding judge floated an alternative to a full constitutional ruling: a timed quiz.
"We could spend months on briefs, or we could hand out scantrons," the judge reportedly said, according to courtroom observers, before clarifying that the quiz would cover only the First Amendment and "maybe a bonus question on Marbury v. Madison for extra credit."
Lawyers for the banned outlets objected that due process shouldn't hinge on recall of case law under time pressure, while a lawyer for the White House said the administration would need to review the answer key before agreeing to any results. A fictional spokesperson for the proposal, contacted only in the sense that nobody actually contacted them, offered: "We believe access to government should be earned the old-fashioned way — through a rubric."
By the end of the session, both sides had reportedly agreed to a practice round, though neither could settle on whether the test should be open-book, and the judge adjourned the hearing without indicating whether failing reporters would be allowed to retake it.
No date has been set for the next hearing, or for the release of study guides.