The week included lawsuits over White House press access, an ICE shooting in Austin, and a Supreme Court ruling against Missouri’s redistricting plan.
Sept. 28, 2026
Trump’s 88th week brought updates to White House press access, a Supreme Court ruling, and an ICE shooting in Texas. This comes as press credentials were restored to CNN, MS NOW and Politico after Trump barred the organizations from White House coverage. At the same time, following a previous report from The Introspective detailing the Supreme Court blocking a Missouri congressional map that favored Republicans, the Court once again blocked the map, raising implications as the midterm elections approach. Meanwhile, as anti-immigrant sentiment continues, ICE shot and injured Wilber Rafael Garces Perez, a Venezuelan immigrant, in Austin, Texas.
White House and Supreme Court
Following a previous report from The Introspective detailing CNN, MS NOW and Politico being barred from White House press coverage, U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly ordered the White House to restore press credentials to the three organizations.
“The Court is skeptical — at least on this record — that Defendants’ interest in safeguarding national security is the actual motivation for, or is even advanced by, the revocation of Plaintiffs’ hard passes,” Kelly wrote in the ruling.
“Nothing in the record that predates this suit suggests that the revocation of Plaintiffs’ hard passes was motivated by national security concerns. Certainly, that is not what President Trump said when he announced that he was ‘banning’ Plaintiffs from the White House — instead, he focused on the alleged lack of truthfulness and negativity of Plaintiffs’ reporting.”
This comes after the organizations filed a joint lawsuit over press access.
“This ban could not be a more direct assault on the First Amendment nor a more blatant violation of our most fundamental constitutional principles,” the lawsuit read.
“Presidents from the earliest days of the Republic have disagreed with and complained about the tenor and content of press coverage of their administrations. But as the Supreme Court has recognized, the First Amendment, including its guarantee of a free press, reflects ‘a profound national commitment to the principle that debate on public issues should be uninhibited, robust, and wide-open, and that it may well include vehement, caustic, and sometimes unpleasantly sharp attacks on government and public officials.’”
In a joint statement, ABC, CBS, CNN, Fox News and NBC criticized the ban.
“The public has a vital interest in receiving accurate, independent information about its government. No administration should restrict a news organization because it objects to its reporting,” the networks said.
Press access was later restored Thursday, with CNN, MS NOW and Politico reporters being allowed back into the White House.
At the same time, the Supreme Court once again blocked a Missouri congressional map that favored Republicans.
“At this late date, ordering reversion to the 2025 map in the midst of an ongoing election would usher in electoral chaos,” the ruling read.
This comes as Missouri will use a 2022 map that includes six seats held by Republicans and two held by Democrats, raising implications as the state already began its voting process.
Immigration
As anti-immigrant sentiment continues, ICE shot and injured Wilber Rafael Garces Perez, a Venezuelan immigrant, in Austin, Texas.
“This person is an illegal alien who has no legal status to be here and has been given some of the best medical care he’s ever received in his life,” Secretary Markwayne Mullin said in a press release.
“No amount of smears and false narratives will slow down ICE from doing its job by removing dangerous illegal aliens from our communities and making America safe again.”
This comes as Garces Perez was discharged from the hospital and remains in ICE custody, with the bullet still lodged in his back.
“We now understand that the gunshot fractured his clavicle and that he has significant swelling and is wearing a sling,” his attorney, Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch, wrote on Instagram.
Garces Perez later filed a petition to block the federal government from deporting him, with a hearing set for Sept. 30.
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