A federal judge on Tuesday extended an order blocking President Donald Trump's administration from banning reporters for three news outlets from the White House, a pivotal operational development for the organizations as the extraordinary case — pitting the president against the media that cover him — makes its way through the legal system.
In a victory for media organizations at a time when tension between the White House and journalists is high, U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly ruled that CNN, MSNBC and Politico are likely to succeed in their constitutional free speech and due process claims.
“Still,” he added in his late-night order, “no one should interpret the Court’s decision to suggest that President Trump’s concerns about accuracy and fairness in the media’s reporting are unfounded, or that the government is powerless when its true aim is to protect national security when classified information is unlawfully disclosed.”
But Kelly agreed with the plaintiffs that the national security arguments came after the fact and were unsupported by the administration.
The judge also wrote that without a preliminary injunction the outlets “are likely to suffer irreparable harm, and that the balance of the equities and the public interest tip in their favor.”
An email to the Justice Department, which is arguing the case on behalf of the administration, was not immediately returned. The White House also did not immediately respond to an email requesting comment.
Theodore Boutrous Jr., attorney for the three media organizations, hailed the judge's ruling.
“When the President issued his ‘ban on the free press,’ he blatantly and explicitly violated due process and the First Amendment,” Boutrous said in a statement. “The harm this ban did to our clients, the First Amendment, and the public as a whole is profound. The Court was right to enjoin the White House from enforcing this ‘unconstitutional ban on the free press’ for the foreseeable future.”
Kelly, who was nominated to the bench by Trump, previously ordered the White House to restore the reporters’ “hard pass” press credentials while he weighed their claims. With that temporary order expiring Tuesday, the judge issued a preliminary injunction that preserves the status quo indefinitely while the case is pending.
Kelly said that, “to put it mildly,” the White House didn’t give the plaintiffs any warning that they were in danger of losing their hard passes before Trump’s Sept. 18 social media post about their bans.
The judge also said the impact of the White House ban goes far beyond a single reporter's ability to do their job.
“The ban threatens to cut off all Plaintiffs’ access to the White House press area—a space open to many of their competitors—thereby restricting their ability to observe happenings there firsthand, immediately report on those activities, and try to engage with government officials,” the judge wrote.
Hard passes give journalists who regularly cover the White House longer term access to its campus without having to get permission ahead of time.
The government asked Kelly to suspend his own decision pending an appeal, but the judge said it didn’t justify that request. Kelly said the bans impacted a total of 78 reporters at the three news organizations.
Trump provided no notice before announcing the bans in a Sept. 18 social media post, which criticized their reporting as “fake news.” Kelly temporarily blocked the bans on Sept. 24 at the request of the news outlets, which jointly filed a lawsuit in Washington, D.C.
Attorneys for the outlets have described Trump’s move as “unprecedented and blatantly unconstitutional” under the First and Fifth amendments. They argued that it’s illegal for Trump to punish the journalists because he doesn’t like the content of their reporting.
“The ban also inflicts an injury on all news media organizations — which now risk a similar fate if they engage in fact-based, independent reporting the President deems insufficiently favorable,” plaintiffs’ lawyers wrote.
Government lawyers argued that access to the White House is a privilege — not a right — and said the president can impose the bans to protect national security and to stem the spread of misinformation.
“The White House is the official residence and workplace of the President,” Justice Department attorneys wrote. “Presidents have had a relationship with the press since the beginning. They have long decided which journalists should receive privileged access, which has varied substantially from administration to administration.”
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Associated Press reporter Rebecca Boone contributed.
