WASHINGTON — A federal judge set an initial court hearing for Wednesday, Sept. 23 in the lawsuit CNN, MS NOW and Politico filed against President Donald Trump as the three media outlets seek to regain their access to the White House following Trump's ban.
The hearing, which marks the first in the case, is scheduled to begin at 3:30 pm. ET on Wednesday.
Plaintiffs, in a lawsuit filed Sept. 21, asked the court to issue a preliminary injunction to immediately halt Trump's ban on reporters from CNN, MS NOW and Politico, which has denied them access to the White House grounds.
The lawsuit argues the CNN, MS NOW and Politico reporters were denied their First Amendment rights to a free press
under the Constitution and their right to due process under the 14th Amendment.
Kelly ordered the Justice Department to file its response to the lawsuit by Tuesday, Sept. 22.
Other co-defendants listed in the lawsuit besides Trump are White House communications aide Steven Cheung, White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles and Secret Service Director Sean Curran.
The day after Trump announced his ban,reporters for CNN, MS NOW and Politico on Sept. 19 were blocked by security from entering the White House and their White House press passes were confiscated. Reporters from the two television networks moved outside the White House to a nearby sidewalk to conduct their live shots.
Trump has defended the ban by arguing it only targets outlets he believes are unfair to him and fixated on negative coverage about his presidency that he calls "fake news." Yet Trump himself referred to the action as a "ban on the free press" shortly after he announced the action last Friday, Sept. 18.
Kelly, a Trump appointee during the president's first term, is no stranger to freedom-of-press cases brought against Trump. Kelly ruled in 2018 on the side of CNN after correspondent Jim Acosta had his press credentials stripped and ordered the White House to allow Acosta to keep his press pass.
The lawsuit references Kelly's decision in the Acosta case as one precedent.
In a Truth Social post, Trump bemoaned that Kelly will preside over the case, pointing to the judge's history with the Acosta case and predicting it means he will lose in court and have to appeal.
"The Judge’s name is Tim Kelly, and he was, sadly, appointed by 'TRUMP,'" the president said. "In other words, almost without question and, as usual, we’ll go for appeal because Fake News people and publications that only write negatively, and who violate our National Security by writing false and defamatory stories with unknown 'sources,' shouldn’t be allowed access to the most important Office anywhere in the World."
The lawsuit also cites the 1977 Sherrill v. Knight case, when a federal appeals court ruled the White House cannot arbitrarily deny press passes to reporters based on the content of their coverage if the White House has voluntarily opened its doors to media and established facilities for the press.
Reach Joey Garrison on X @joeygarrison.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Judge sets hearing in CNN, MS NOW, Politico lawsuit over Trump ban
