A federal judge on Thursday ordered White House access to journalists from CNN, MS Now and Politico to be temporarily restored, saying U.S. President Donald Trump's media ban was likely unconstitutional.
The ruling represents a victory for the three media outlets, who had argued the ban violated their First Amendment rights, and comes as Trump hosts Chinese President Xi Jinping for a high-stakes meeting.
In his ruling, District Judge Tim Kelly said the three outlets should have their access immediately restored from the ban that the president had announced on Sept. 18, rejecting a request by the Justice Department to delay it for at least two days. The judge was nominated by Trump to the federal bench in 2017.
Kelly said the Trump administration must return, reinstate and restore the White House "hard pass" press credentials held by employees of the three outlets that had been revoked. The temporary restraining order remains in effect for 14 days, with Kelly noting that such orders are "generally unappealable."
"Simply put—the record lacks factual support for Defendants' contention that the revocation of Plaintiffs' hard passes will in fact protect national security or that national security will be endangered if the Court orders their passes reinstated while this litigation proceeds," Kelly said.
In a Truth Social post last week, Trump said he was banning the outlets from the White House effective immediately, warning that other "Fake News Media Outlets" could follow. The president cited what he called "cumulative stories" by the three news organizations, adding, "You get sick of it."
In his ruling, Kelly said the court declined "to stay" the temporary restraining order's entry or effective date, as the defendants had requested.
"Doing so runs against the purpose of such an order, which is to immediately—but temporarily—preserve the last uncontested status quo while the litigation proceeds," he added.
Disclosure: CNBC and MS NOW are divisions of Versant Media.
