A federal judge has ordered President Donald Trump to restore White House access for journalists from CNN, MS NOW and Politico, saying the ban on the three outlets was likely unconstitutional.
US District Judge Tim Kelly issued the order on Thursday in a lawsuit the news organizations filed to contest the ban, which Trump announced on September 18.
Kelly said the three outlets must have their access restored immediately. He rejected a Justice Department request to delay the order for at least two days.
The administration must return and reinstate the “hard pass” press credentials that had been revoked from employees of the three outlets. The government had defended the ban on national security grounds. Kelly found little to support that.
He wrote that the record lacked factual support for the claim that revoking the passes would protect national security, or that reinstating them would endanger it.
The order is a temporary restraining order that stays in effect for 14 days. Kelly noted that such orders are generally unappealable. Kelly was nominated to the federal bench by Trump in 2017.
Read More: Trump Bars CNN, MS NOW and Politico from White House
At an emergency hearing Wednesday, Kelly signaled where he was leaning. He said the White House appeared to have violated the outlets’ constitutional right to due process by abruptly blocking journalists who held permanent credentials.
Theodore Boutrous, a lawyer for the outlets, said the ban came without a semblance of due process. He also argued it violated their First Amendment rights and amounted to retaliation for their coverage of the president.
Trump had said on social media that the three outlets should not be able to keep reporting what he called fiction and lies. Journalists from the outlets were turned away from the White House grounds on Saturday and had their passes confiscated.
The dispute has drawn broad support for the press. On Monday, the top five U.S. broadcasters (ABC, CBS, CNN, Fox and NBC) halted pool coverage of the White House in solidarity with CNN.
The White House Correspondents’ Association and nearly 50 news organizations also filed a brief in the case. It is not the first time Kelly has ruled on press access.
During Trump’s first term, he ordered the White House to temporarily restore the pass of a CNN reporter whose credentials had been revoked.
The ruling also follows other court fights over press access. Earlier this year, another Trump-appointed judge ruled that excluding
The Associated Press from White House events was contrary to the First Amendment. The temporary order only preserves access while the case proceeds. The court has yet to decide whether to grant longer-term relief.
