Media outlets ask judge for immediate hearing to address White House’s continued ban on journalists despite court order

CNN, MS NOW and Politico asked for an immediate hearing after reporters were still denied access to the White House Thursday despite a court order. NEW YORK (AP) — Media outlets ask judge for immediate hearing to address White House’s continued ban on journalists despite court order. A federal judge temporarily blocked President Donald Trump’s ban of three news outlets from the White House, ordering early Thursday that CNN, MS NOW and Politico must have their access restored.

Reporters from all three outlets, however, said they remained blocked a few hours after the ruling. District Judge Timothy Kelly handed down the ruling in the middle of the night, hours after holding an emergency hearing on the outlets’ lawsuit. The back-and-forth is the latest in an extraordinary showdown between Trump and media outlets whose coverage he dislikes.

A federal judge temporarily blocked U.S. President Donald Trump’s ban of three news outlets from the White House grounds, ordering early Thursday to have their access restored. NEW YORK (AP) — A federal judge temporarily blocked President Donald Trump’s ban of three news outlets from the White House, ordering early Thursday that CNN, MS NOW and Politico must have their access restored.

The outlets argued in a joint lawsuit that the ban was a blatant violation of the First Amendment because it singled them out for the content of their coverage.In his late-night ruling, U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly ordered the White House to “immediately return, reinstate, and restore” the three outlets’ access. He said they had met the legal thresholds to obtain a temporary restraining order, in effect for 14 days, and were likely to succeed in showing that their press passes were revoked without due process.“This is a high bar, but Plaintiffs have met it,” he wrote.Kelly — whom Trump nominated in 2017 and who ordered a CNN journalist’s access restored in a similar case in 2018 — said the government must have clear standards for conduct that would lead to revoking a press pass.

He called the standard of objectionable reporting outlined in letters that the White House sent the outlets “so vague it hardly does the trick.”The judge also made clear he did not buy the administration’s argument that the news outlets’ reporting endangered national security — and noted that Trump himself had not used that argument in the beginning, focusing solely on what he called negative coverage.“Nothing in the record ... suggests that the revocation of Plaintiffs’ hard passes was motivated by national security concerns,” he wrote.The ruling came after Kelly heard arguments in an emergency hearing Wednesday. Temporary restraining orders are typically designed to preserve the status quo pending a closer review of the case by the court.“This is a strong ruling vindicating freedom of the press, due process and the rule of law," Theodore Boutrous Jr., attorney for the outlets, said in an emailed statement.

"We greatly appreciate the court’s swift action.”But a few hours after the rul… The decision was released overnight, meaning reporters could return to the complex as early as today. Politico, MS NOW and CNN reporters remained barred from the White House ​on Thursday, just hours after a judge deemed President Donald Trump's ban of the news outlets likely unconstitutional.