NewzNEW YORK (AP) — A federal judge temporarily blocked President Donald Trump’s ban of three news outlets from the White House grounds, ordering early Thursday that CNN, MS NOW and Politico must have their access restored.The ruling hands the outlets at least a temporary reprieve in what has been an extraordinary showdown between Trump and media outlets whose coverage he dislikes.Trump first announced he was banning the outlets Friday, assailing what he called “fake news,” and only later arguing that their reporting was a risk to national security. 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.A few hours later, a CNN reporter said she was denied entry to the White House compound.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 a… A federal judge has ordered the White House to immediate reinstate access to CNN, MS NOW and Politico journalists, after President Donald Trump summarily banned them last Friday.
District Judge Timothy Kelly of the D.C. Circuit, a Trump appointee, granted the news orgs’ motion for a temporary restraining order in the lawsuit they filed […] President Donald Trump has long attacked media outlets that have aired critical coverage of his campaigns and administrations.
District Judge Timothy Kelly handed down the ruling in the middle of the night, hours after holding an emergency hearing on the outlets’ lawsuit. "We greatly appreciate the court’s swift action.”The White House did not immediately respond to an email from The Associated … A federal judge ruled early Thursday that the Trump administration must immediately restore access to multiple media outlets that were barred from White House coverage while a lawsuit plays out.In a ruling from the U.S.
District Court for the District of Columbia, Judge Timothy Kelly wrote that the administration likely "violated their constitutional due process rights, and 'enforcement of an unconstitutional law is always contrary to the public interest,'" and ordered it to restore press credentials for CNN, MS Now and Politico.Kelly said the temporary restraining order will last 14 days.The ruling comes one day after the judge heard arguments in the case without issuing a bench decision.The access bans began on Sept. 19, one day after the president said he would restrict access for CNN, MS Now and Politico. The outlets sued the Trump Administration on Sept.
Summary from source