Judge blocks Trump's White House ban on CNN, MS NOW and Politico while lawsuit plays out
U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly issued a preliminary injunction late Tuesday that keeps reporters from CNN, MS NOW and Politico on the White House grounds until their case is decided, finding the ban likely violated the First Amendment and due process. Trump has said he will appeal.
The ruling: Judge Timothy Kelly of the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., a Trump appointee, granted the three news outlets a preliminary injunction on Tuesday night, NBC News and CBS News reported. The order blocks the administration from banning their reporters from the White House complex while the lawsuit moves forward, the AP reported.
Why this is new: Late last month Kelly issued a temporary restraining order that restored the outlets' access for a short period, based only on their due-process claim. Tuesday's 26-page decision goes further. A preliminary injunction lasts until the case is resolved, and Kelly found the ban likely violated both the reporters' Fifth Amendment due-process rights and their First Amendment rights, CBS News reported.
Plain-English legal terms: A temporary restraining order is short-term emergency relief. A preliminary injunction is a longer-lasting order that stays in place while a lawsuit is pending. To get one, the plaintiffs must show they are likely to win, not that they have already won.
The national security argument: The Justice Department argued that the outlets were banned partly over national security concerns. Kelly rejected that. "There is practically nothing national security-related in the record connected to the President's decision to revoke Plaintiffs' hard passes to which the Court can defer," he wrote, according to NBC News. He noted that when Trump announced the ban on September 18, "he did not mention national security," CBS News reported.
On viewpoint: "President Trump likely banned Plaintiffs from the White House because he believes that their reporting is generally inaccurate and biased against him," Kelly wrote, according to NBC News. He also wrote that the revocation "is the sort of action that would deter a reasonable reporter or news organization from publishing stories to which he objects," CBS News reported.
What the order does not cover: The injunction does not require the White House to admit the outlets' reporters to the Oval Office or Air Force One, NBC News reported. The administration has recently kept CNN and Politico reporters out of those spaces.
Who is affected: The outlets said in court filings that the ban affected 78 journalists who held "hard passes," NBC News reported. The outlets sued on September 21, CBS News reported.
What's next: Trump said on Truth Social before the ruling that the administration would appeal, NBC News and CBS News reported. Separately, the Justice Department said last week it was investigating five major TV networks, including CNN and NBC, for possible antitrust violations after they temporarily stopped providing pool coverage of Trump in protest of the ban, NBC News reported. "The Court was right to enjoin the White House from enforcing this 'unconstitutional ban,'" said Ted Boutrous, the outlets' lawyer.
Sources
- NBC News — Federal judge issues longer-term decision blocking Trump's White House media ban
- CBS News — Judge blocks Trump's White House ban targeting CNN, MS NOW and Politico, saying it likely violated First Amendment
- AP — Judge extends order blocking Trump from banning CNN, MS NOW and Politico reporters from White House