Joyce Vance is a law professor at the University of Alabama and a former U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Alabama. She writes Civil Discourse and co-hosts the SistersInLaw and CAFE Insider podcasts.
Case
The Justice Department is investigating whether ABC, CBS, CNN, Fox News and NBC broke antitrust law by jointly suspending White House pool coverage after Trump barred CNN. Former U.S. attorney Joyce Vance argues the networks were protesting, not restraining trade.
Role at the time: Former U.S. attorney and author of Civil Discourse
Response to this claim
The television networks' coordinated suspension of White House pool coverage warrants an investigation for possible antitrust violations.
“But it’s doubtful that the networks’ boycott is the type of restraint on trade that antitrust laws are intended to prevent.”
The case asks whether the Justice Department is justified in investigating the television networks' White House press-pool boycott under antitrust law. Vance writes that it is "doubtful that the networks' boycott is the type of restraint on trade that antitrust laws are intended to prevent" and says it is a real stretch to investigate given the First Amendment implications of the White House's own conduct. That opposes the investigation, so we labeled it Condemned. The closest competing label is Challenged the characterization, since she disputes treating the networks' action as a commercial restraint of trade; it loses because she goes on to criticize the decision to investigate.
Statement dates: October 11, 2026
Statement dates: October 11, 2026
Statement dates: October 11, 2026
Statement dates: October 11, 2026
