Trump-Appointed Judge Blocks White House Media Ban, Orders CNN, MS NOW and Politico Back In

WASHINGTON — A federal judge appointed by President Donald Trump temporarily blocked the White House from excluding CNN, MS NOW and Politico, ordering administration officials to immediately restore press credentials that were revoked after Trump accused the organizations of spreading false and misleading coverage.

U.S. District Judge Timothy J. Kelly issued the temporary restraining order early Thursday, September 24, handing the three organizations at least 14 days of restored access while their broader constitutional lawsuit against the administration continues.

The ruling does not represent a final decision on whether the White House violated the First Amendment, nor does it permanently establish the access rights of the three organizations. Instead, Kelly concluded that CNN, MS NOW and Politico had demonstrated a likelihood of succeeding on at least their Fifth Amendment procedural-due-process claim.

That distinction is significant in a legal battle that has quickly become a larger dispute over presidential authority, press access and the government's power to control entry into sensitive areas of the White House.

Trump announced on September 18 that CNN, MS NOW and Politico would no longer be permitted access, attacking their coverage as what he described as “fake news.” Journalists working for the organizations subsequently found their White House credentials disabled or confiscated and were prevented from entering the complex.

The three organizations filed suit on September 21, arguing that the administration retaliated against them because of their reporting and violated both their First Amendment press rights and their Fifth Amendment right to due process.

The administration took a sharply different position.

Justice Department lawyers argued that physical access to the White House is a privilege rather than an unlimited constitutional right and said the president must retain substantial authority over who enters areas with obvious security sensitivities.

The government also raised national-security concerns, pointing to reporting involving the Iran conflict and White House construction activities as examples of coverage it said could create security risks.

Kelly was not persuaded that the administration had established enough evidence to justify the immediate revocation of existing credentials on those grounds.

The judge wrote that the government's arguments offered little support for its asserted national-security justification and noted that the record before the court did not show that national security had been identified as the basis for the action before the lawsuit was filed.

More importantly for Thursday's decision, Kelly focused on the process the administration used before stripping the journalists of credentials.

Existing federal appellate precedent requires the government to provide certain procedural protections when previously granted White House press credentials are suspended or revoked. Kelly concluded that the affected journalists had not received constitutionally adequate notice and an opportunity to respond before losing access.

“The general rule,” Kelly wrote, is that individuals must receive notice and an opportunity to be heard before the government deprives them of a constitutionally protected interest.

The ruling requires administration officials to immediately return, reinstate and restore hard-pass credentials held by employees of CNN, MS NOW and Politico. The temporary order remains in force for 14 days unless the court changes it.

The case is Cable News Network, Inc. et al. v. Trump et al., filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. CNN, MS NOW and Politico are joined by journalists Betsy Klein, Akayla Gardner and Cheyenne Haslett as plaintiffs. Trump, White House communications director Steven Cheung, Chief of Staff Susie Wiles and Secret Service Director Sean Curran are among the named defendants.

Kelly himself was nominated to the federal bench by Trump in 2017, adding another layer to a confrontation that pits the current administration against several of the country's largest news organizations.

He also dealt with a similar White House credential dispute during Trump's first term.

In 2018, Kelly ordered the administration to temporarily restore CNN correspondent Jim Acosta's White House credential after concluding that the government had not provided sufficient due process before revoking it. That dispute was eventually resolved without a final determination of all the constitutional questions raised in the case.

The current fight is broader.

Trump has repeatedly accused major national news organizations of distorted or inaccurate reporting and has argued that the traditional press establishment should not automatically receive privileged access to his administration.

His White House has also challenged long-standing media practices surrounding presidential coverage and sought greater control over which journalists participate in limited-access events.

The media organizations, by contrast, contend that allowing a president to exclude established outlets because of unfavorable reporting would permit the government to punish journalists based on viewpoint — something they argue the First Amendment prohibits.

Kelly did not finally resolve that argument Thursday.

Instead, his temporary order largely turns on a narrower constitutional issue: whether the government followed an adequate procedure before taking away credentials that reporters already possessed.

That leaves the White House free to continue arguing that national security, presidential authority and control over access to restricted government property give the executive branch substantial discretion over press credentials.

It also leaves CNN, MS NOW and Politico free to pursue their claim that Trump's action amounted to unconstitutional retaliation against disfavored news organizations.

The dispute has already affected coverage well beyond the three organizations.

Several major television networks stopped providing normal video coverage of presidential events through the traditional network pool after CNN was removed, an unusual act of solidarity that disrupted customary White House coverage. The Associated Press and other news organizations also supported the plaintiffs' effort to regain access.

Thursday's ruling means journalists from the three organizations can again enter the White House while the case proceeds, including during a particularly consequential period for the administration.

Trump is hosting Chinese President Xi Jinping in Washington on Thursday for high-level talks, giving the court order immediate practical consequences for media coverage of one of the administration's biggest foreign-policy events.

For conservatives, the dispute raises two principles that can exist in tension: protecting a president's authority to secure and manage the White House, while also requiring federal officials to follow constitutional procedures when government privileges already granted to individuals or organizations are taken away.

Kelly's ruling does not declare that every media organization has an unrestricted right to enter the White House. It does not permanently overturn Trump's policy, and it does not settle whether the administration's criticism of the three organizations is justified.

What it does establish, at least temporarily, is that the government cannot revoke these existing press credentials in the manner challenged in this case without confronting the due-process requirements recognized by federal precedent.

The next stage of the lawsuit will determine whether the administration can establish a legally sufficient basis for the restrictions and whether the media organizations can prevail on their broader First Amendment arguments.

For now, CNN, MS NOW and Politico are back inside the White House — but the larger battle between Trump, the courts and the national press is far from finished.