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President Donald Trump’s ban on CNN, MS NOW and Politico suffered a setback Thursday after a federal judge ordered the administration to restore White House access to the outlets.
U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly issued a temporary restraining order Thursday blocking the ban and ordering White House officials to “immediately return, reinstate, and restore” the outlets’ hard-pass press credentials while their legal battle continues. The order will be in effect for 14 days.
Kelly wrote that the outlets had shown they were likely to succeed on their claim that their White House “hard passes were revoked without constitutionally adequate due process.”
“This is a high bar, but Plaintiffs have met it,” Kelly wrote of the standard for obtaining a temporary restraining order.
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Kelly also rejected, at least for now, the administration’s national security justification, writing that “the record lacks factual support” for the contention that revoking the passes protected national security or that restoring them would endanger it.
Trump announced the ban last week, writing on social media that the three outlets “shouldn’t be able to constantly write or report FICTION and LIES.”
Reporters from all three organizations were subsequently denied entry to the White House, with their press credentials deactivated or confiscated.
The outlets and three individual reporters sued the administration, alleging the revocation of their White House press credentials violated their First Amendment free speech rights and Fifth Amendment due process rights.
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Lawyers for the Justice Department argued that White House press access is a privilege, not a right, and defended the president’s authority to determine who receives access.
Following Trump’s ban, White House television pool members FOX News Media, ABC News, CBS News, CNN and NBC News announced Monday that they had agreed to suspend their pooled coverage of the president.
This is a developing story; check back for updates.
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