Federal judge orders White House to restore press access to CNN, Politico, and MS NOW — Ruling rejects national security justification as "lacking factual support"

USA: The White House has begun readmitting journalists from CNN, Politico, and MS NOW after a federal judge issued a temporary restraining order late Wednesday directing the administration to “immediately” restore the outlets’ press access, a ruling that found Trump’s ban likely violated constitutional due process rights and dismissed the administration's national security justification as unsupported by the record.

According to CNBC, Judge Timothy Kelly of the US District Court in Washington, a Trump appointee from 2017, issued his order after finding the three outlets had shown they were “likely to win their lawsuit,” at least on their Fifth Amendment due process claim. The restraining order will remain in force for at least 14 days.

The reinstatement came after some journalists from the outlets were initially barred from entering the White House on Thursday despite the court order, prompting Kelly to demand the administration respond to a new filing notifying him of non-compliance. The White House’s director of operations subsequently filed a declaration confirming press passes had been restored.

The judge’s findings

According to CNBC, Kelly’s ruling rested on two federal appeals court precedents from the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, which require that journalists whose White House press passes are targeted for revocation receive advance notice and an opportunity to be heard. Trump gave no such warning before announcing the ban. The Justice Department only issued explanations for the ban to the outlets on Tuesday, the day after they filed their lawsuit.

Kelly found the ban appeared to clearly violate two federal appeals court rulings, adding that he was bound to follow those rulings “full stop.”

The judge also expressed significant scepticism toward the administration’s national security justification, which the Justice Department introduced after the lawsuit was filed. “Nothing in the record that predates this suit suggests that the revocation of Plaintiffs' hard passes was motivated by national security concerns,” Kelly wrote. “Certainly, that is not what President Trump said when he announced that he was ‘banning’ Plaintiffs from the White House — instead, he focused on the alleged lack of truthfulness and negativity of Plaintiffs’ reporting.”

Kelly also noted that some of the reporting cited by the Justice Department as a national security concern “stretches back months or years,” thereby undermining any claim of urgency. “Simply put — the record lacks factual support for Defendants’ contention that the revocation of Plaintiffs’ hard passes will in fact protect national security,” he wrote.

Kelly declined to delay his order at the Justice Department’s request and noted that “temporary restraining orders are generally unappealable.”

Netizens react

Online responses were pointed and largely unsympathetic to the administration’s position.

“Turns out 'fake news’ isn’t a legal argument,” one commenter wrote.

“Another L for Trump,” another netizen noted simply.

One looked ahead to the political fallout: “Can’t wait to see the headlines tomorrow morning after this. Daddy gonna be hella mad.” Another predicted: “I bet he’s about to fire off a hundred midnight tweets.”

One pointed out how this may affect the incoming midterm elections: “Midterms are just around the corner. He’s got to show how big of a man he is destroying the Constitution, and his followers have to show how much of a simp they all are.”