WASHINGTON, Sept. 24 -- The Justice Department told a federal court on Wednesday that White House press access is a privilege the administration may revoke at will, not a constitutional entitlement. If it holds, the argument would give any sitting president unrestricted authority to determine which journalists cover the presidency and, by extension, which questions get asked.

Senior counsel Michael Velchik made the case in a court filing submitted Tuesday evening on behalf of the White House, defending the ban on CNN, MS NOW, and Politico that has been in place since August. By Wednesday afternoon, Judge Timothy Kelly of the U.S. District Court in Washington had spent roughly 45 minutes pressing both sides on the legal foundations of tha...