Judge temporarily restores White House access for CNN, MS NOW and Politico
A Trump-nominated federal judge ordered the White House to reinstate hard passes for three banned outlets for 14 days, finding the ban likely violated due process. The fight is still shaping the political week as midterms approach.
The ruling: U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly ordered the Trump administration to immediately reinstate White House access for CNN, MS NOW and Politico for 14 days, the BBC reported. Kelly, a Trump nominee, said the ban “likely violated their constitutional due process rights.”
The three outlets sued after their reporters were denied access. Judge Kelly ruled they were “likely to succeed” in showing the White House had not provided “adequate due process” when it revoked the hard passes, according to the BBC.
How the ban started: President Donald Trump announced the ban last Friday, accusing the outlets of “fake news” and of writing “fictions and lies,” the BBC reported. In court, the administration defended the move by accusing the outlets of publishing false information and threatening national security.
The judge cast doubt on that national-security rationale, noting Trump made no mention of national security in his initial announcement. Kelly also wrote that “in most cases” the stories the White House cited were written by journalists who “did not even hold card passes,” the BBC reported.
After the order: Access was not seamless at first. Some reporters from CNN, MS NOW and Politico said they were still turned away Thursday morning even after the ruling; coverage later described access being restored. The White House had not publicly commented on the ruling at the time of the BBC’s report, and further legal action remained possible.
Industry response: Forty-nine media organizations — including The New York Times, CBS News and Fox News — filed a legal brief supporting the three outlets, the BBC reported. On Monday, major U.S. television networks pulled out of White House pool duties in protest at the ban.
Ted Boutrous, a lawyer for the news outlets, called it “a strong ruling vindicating freedom of the press, due process and the rule of law,” according to the BBC.
Midterm backdrop: The fight is playing out with Election Day less than six weeks away. The Hill’s Memo on Sunday framed Trump’s media ban as overshadowing Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit as the midterm clock runs down. ReadingDlaw News is treating that as political context for why the court fight remains a weekend story — not as a prediction of who will control Congress.
What this means: For now, the three outlets have a temporary court-ordered return to the White House grounds. The 14-day order is preliminary; the underlying lawsuit and any appeal will decide whether the ban can stick. For readers, the plain-language takeaway is about process: the court said the government likely skipped fair steps before cutting off press access — not a final verdict on the outlets’ coverage.