The revocation, restoration, promised re-revocation, and rerevocation revocation of CNN reporter Jim Acosta’s White House press credentials have brought back into the news the late Robert Sherrill, a famously cantankerous Nation contributor. Acosta’s suspension was blamed, at least initially, on a phony assault—the Trump administration shared a video that had been sped up to make it appear that Acosta had “karate-chopped” a White House intern. In contrast, Sherrill’s ban, unexplained at first, had its roots in 1964, when he punched the Florida governor’s press secretary. Still, when the Secret Service denied Sherrill’s press credentials two years later, no reason was given, and it took another four years and an ACLU challenge for the White House to produce a vague explanation: for reasons of “security.”
In 1977, the DC Circuit Court,…
