A federal judge ordered the White House on Oct. 13 to continue allowing reporters from CNN, MS NOW, and Politico to enter its complex, despite President Donald Trump's attempt to ban them from the grounds.
On Sept. 18, Trump announced on social media he was banning those three outlets from the White House. He told reporters later the same day that he was frustrated by "cumulative stories over the last few years" from what he described as "fake news."
U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly, a Trump appointee, previously issued a temporary restraining order halting the ban, but that order was set to expire Oct. 13. The new order, legally referred to as a preliminary injunction, will preserve the outlets' access to the White House complex as their lawsuit
continues to unfold.
Kelly wrote in his Oct. 13 ruling that the media outlets are probably going to be able to prove that Trump's ban violated their right to due process before losing White House access, and also ran afoul of their First Amendment free speech rights.
"To put it mildly, (the targeted media outlets) likely did not receive notice either of the conduct that would subject them to revocation of their hard passes, or of the magnitude of the revocation sanction itself," to satisfy constitutional standards that have been laid out in previous legal decisions.
Kelly wrote that he saw no evidence in the case showing that Trump or the White House provided that kind of notice to the news outlets before Trump's announcement of the ban.
Kelly also wrote that the media outlets are likely to win on their argument that Trump violated the First Amendment's free speech protections because he retaliated against them for their reporting and discriminated against them based on the viewpoints they expressed. Kelly highlighted that Trump's comments about the ban suggested he was motivated by disliking the media's coverage of him, for example, when he first declared he was banning the outlets "as a result of their constant 'reporting' of 'FAKE NEWS.'"
Despite reinstating the press passes after Kelly's previous order, the Trump administration has blocked CNN and Politico from traveling on Air Force One. The press restrictions sparked alarm among free speech advocates who have argued that undermining a free press can weaken democracy.
In their lawsuit, the news outlets have said Trump violated their constitutional rights to free speech and to due process before losing access. While the ban blocks the reporters' ability to access the White House in person, it doesn't prevent them from continuing to report on the president.
The Trump administration has responded in court filings that access to the White House is a privilege, not a right, and that the targeted outlets pose national security risks due to their reporting on classified and sensitive information.
In his earlier ruling suspending the ban for a shorter period, Kelly concluded that evidence from before the news outlets sued indicates national security concerns weren't Trump's true motivation.
"Certainly, that is not what President Trump said when he announced that he was 'banning' (the news outlets) from the White House—instead, he focused on the alleged lack of truthfulness and negativity of (the outlets') reporting," Kelly wrote.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Judge grants CNN, MS NOW and Politico longer-term White House access
