A federal judge on Tuesday issued an order blocking the Trump administration from banning CNN, Politico and MS NOW from the White House complex while the organizations’ lawsuit over access continues.
U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly in Washington, D.C., issued the preliminary injunction following a hearing Thursday in which the administration claimed it imposed the ban in part for national security reasons; media organizations said it was because of “viewpoint discrimination.”
Kelly sided with the media, pointing out that Trump used national security as a reason for the ban after their press passes had already been revoked and ruling that it also likely violated journalists’ free speech and due process rights.
“There is virtually nothing in the record related to national security and related to the President’s decision to revoke Plaintiffs’ strict authorizations on which the Court can defer,” Kelly wrote in his 26-page opinion.
His order will give media access to the White House until the underlying lawsuit challenging the ban is resolved. But it does not require the administration to allow media reporters access to the Oval Office or Air Force One — places where the administration has blocked CNN and Politico journalists in recent weeks.
Trump promised to appeal Truth Social before the decision is made. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment following the decision.
Kelly had issued a temporary restraining order lifting the ban while he considered whether to issue an injunction.
Trump announced the social media bans of CNN, MS NOW and Politico on September 18, saying they were the “result of their constant ‘reporting’ of FAKE NEWS!”
“The media should not be able to consistently write or report FICTIONS and LIES when covering the President of the United States, the Trump Administration, or the United States of America. Other fake news outlets will follow,” he wrote on Truth Social.
In their court filings, the three news organizations said the ban affected 78 journalists who had “hard passes,” meaning they had been pre-screened and accredited to work at the White House.
The media outlets filed a lawsuit, alleging that Trump’s action violated their due process rights and First Amendment protections for information gathering and expression.
“This ban could not be a more direct attack on the First Amendment nor a more egregious violation of our most fundamental constitutional principles,” the lawsuit says.
The White House and Trump then began arguing that the ban was intended to address national security concerns, with Trump saying in another post that the media reporting posed “a threat to our national security and must be stopped NOW!” »
The judge was not moved by this argument.
Kelly said it was clear from Trump’s announcement of the ban and his subsequent remarks that his motivation was satisfied.
“President Trump likely banned the plaintiffs from the White House because he believes their reporting is generally inaccurate and biased against him,” Kelly wrote, believing the move violated journalists’ First and Fifth Amendment rights.
He noted, however, that his decision fails to recognize that Trump’s concerns about accuracy and fairness are unfounded or that the government is “powerless when its true purpose is to protect national security when classified information is unlawfully disclosed.”
Kelly cited Trump’s recent remarks to Time magazine that he didn’t like “bad story after bad story” coming from reporters at CNN, Politico and MS NOW. It was, Ted Boutrous, the media’s lawyer, argued before the decision, “an admission of what amounts to viewpoint discrimination.”
“President Trump, I give him credit for that,” Boutrous said. “He doesn’t hide it.”
In his previous ruling, Kelly also found that the administration denied media outlets due process under established law in several cases that went to the federal appeals court in D.C.
The White House argued that the appeals court’s rulings were wrong.
“Perhaps, but this Court is bound by D.C. Circuit precedent, period,” Kelly wrote.
At a hearing on the injunction Thursday, the Justice Department lawyer representing the White House, Michael Velchik, asked Kelly to lift his restraining order, calling the White House a “sacred place” that people should not have to access simply because they “identify as a journalist.”
“Access to the White House is a privilege, not a right,” Velchik said.
Boutrous argued that the administration was engaging in impermissible and unconstitutional “viewpoint discrimination” because the ban was based on Trump’s aversion to media reporting and because he said he hoped the ban would force journalists to “straighten up.”
In court filings, Boutrous urged Kelly to ignore the national security arguments, saying they were fabricated and did not actually address the subject matter of the case.
Boutrous argued that “the president himself has continued to tell anyone who will listen what the ban really is, recently complaining at length in an interview with Time magazine that he banned the plaintiffs because he believes he should not ‘be forced to put up with’ what he considers to be ‘consistently bad stories’ because he ‘won the election’ and has ‘done great things.’
After Tuesday night’s ruling, Boutrous said he and his clients were grateful to the court for once again ensuring their access.
“The President has repeatedly, frankly and consistently admitted in public that he banned our clients from the White House to punish reporting he did not like,” he said in a statement. “The harm this ban has caused to our customers, the First Amendment and the public at large is profound. The Court was correct in enjoining the White House from enforcing this ‘unconstitutional ban’.”
Separately, the Justice Department said last week it was investigating five major television networks, including CNN and NBC, for potential violations of federal antitrust laws after the networks temporarily refused to provide joint coverage of Trump due to the ban on the three media outlets.
The pool is a rotating group of networks that share the task of recording a president’s activities during his public appearances and travels. The service network then distributes information and media, such as video and audio, to other outlets for their use.
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