John K. MacIver Institute for Public Policy, Inc., et al. v. Tony Evers, Governor of Wisconsin

Petitioner William Osmulski is an award-winning reporter for the MacIver News Service, a project of Petitioner John K. MacIver Institute for Public Policy. Osmulski and another MacIver reporter had long been credentialed journalists covering the Wisconsin governor, among other things, but when a new administration took office, the incoming governor removed the MacIver reporters from his press list without notice. This action prohibited the journalists from being invited to and participating in official press conferences and briefings. The First, Second, and D.C. Circuits have consistently recognized a principle of equal access for journalists, and subjected any individual exclusions to strict scrutiny. The Seventh Circuit in this case, however, chose to join the Fourth Circuit in applying forum analysis from Speech Clause cases and held that because this selective exclusion took place in a nonpublic forum, the removal of Petitioners from the press list did not violate the First Amendment because it was viewpoint neutral and reasonable. The question presented is: Whether the government’s selective exclusion of members of the press implicates the equal treatment guarantee of the First Amendment’s Press Clause, as the First, Second, and D.C. Circuits have held, or instead should be analyzed under the Speech Clause’s forum analysis, as the Seventh Circuit below and the Fourth Circuit have held.