Media Contact:
Paige McElwrath
Director of Communications, Citizen Action Defense Fund
[email protected] | (503) 863-4846
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 5, 2026
RESTRAINING ORDER FILED IN FEDERAL COURT IN LAWSUIT CHALLENGING THE LEGISLATURE’S PRESS CREDENTIALING SCHEME
Olympia, Washington — The Citizen Action Defense Fund has filed an emergency temporary restraining order (TRO) on behalf of plaintiffs Ari Hoffman, Brandi Kruse, and Jonathan Choe in their lawsuit against the legislature. The order seeks to have a federal court grant each of them press credentials after the legislature denied them access – a violation of the state and federal constitutions. The filing of the TRO follows a flurry of activity in the case in the days leading up to the scheduled (and now cancelled) hearing in Thurston County Superior Court on Friday, March 6, 2026.
On Monday, March 2, 2026, a mere four days before the hearing, Defendants removed the case to federal court in Tacoma in the Western District of Washington, which had the effect of cancelling the hearing on the motion that was pending in state court. As a result, a federal judge will now decide whether the press passes will be granted on an emergency basis in the final days of session.
The complaint is clear: the legislature’s credentialing scheme improperly delegates authority to a private entity without clear standards or procedural safeguards and allows viewpoint-based exclusion of journalists. Defendants relied on unpublished, vague, and inconsistently applied criteria — informed in part by recommendations from the Washington State Capitol Correspondents Association — in denying access to the House floor.
The complaint asserts violations of:
- The First Amendment to the United States Constitution
- Article I, Section 5 of the Washington Constitution
- State and federal due process protections
- Washington’s non-delegation doctrine
“Freedom of the press is not subject to unpublished standards or private gatekeeping,” said Jackson Maynard, CADF Executive Director and Lead Counsel on the case. “The Constitution requires transparency, viewpoint neutrality, and due process. No matter what court the case is in, we will fight for the freedom of the press and work to ensure they are able to inform the public of what the government is doing.”