A federal judge has ordered the White House to immediately restore press access for journalists from CNN, MS NOW and Politico, temporarily blocking President Donald Trump’s move to bar the outlets from covering him.
U.S. District Judge Tim Kelly issued the ruling early Thursday in a lawsuit the three news organizations filed jointly after Trump announced Friday that he was cutting off their access to the White House.
Trump had defended the ban by accusing the outlets of dishonest coverage. “Media Outlets shouldn’t be able to constantly write or report FICTION and LIES when they’re covering the President of the United States, the Trump Administration, or the United States of America,” he wrote when announcing the restriction, adding that “Other Fake News Media Outlets” could face similar treatment.
The three outlets argued the ban violated the First Amendment because it targeted them specifically over the content of their reporting.
The dispute prompted five U.S. broadcasters to suspend their participation in White House pool coverage, an arrangement in which one network films events and shares footage with all television outlets for the day. The move was seen as a rare show of solidarity with CNN.
According to the Associated Press, Kelly’s order directs the White House to “immediately return, reinstate, and restore” access for the three outlets. He found they had met the legal standard required for a temporary restraining order, which will remain in effect for 14 days, and that they were likely to succeed in showing their press credentials had been revoked without due process.
“This is a high bar, but Plaintiffs have met it,” Kelly wrote.
Kelly, who was nominated to the bench by Trump in 2017, previously ordered a CNN journalist’s access restored in a similar dispute in 2018. He heard arguments in the current case on Wednesday.
A temporary restraining order is generally intended to preserve the existing situation while a court conducts a fuller review of the case.
The White House had not commented on the ruling as of Thursday, and the president’s lawyers may pursue further legal action.
The Associated Press contributed reporting to this story.
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