A federal judge ordered the Trump administration to immediately restore White House press access for CNN, MS NOW, and Politico, ruling that the sudden revocation of their hard passes likely violated constitutional due process rights after reporters were barred from the complex.
Judge Timothy Kelly Orders 14-Day Restraining Order
U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly granted a temporary restraining order requiring the Trump administration to immediately return, reinstate, and restore the White House hard-pass press credentials held by employees of CNN, MS NOW, and Politico. The emergency relief, set to remain in effect for 14 days, came after an emergency hearing in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia following a joint lawsuit filed by the three media organizations.
Despite the judge’s early Thursday ruling, reporters from CNN and Politico were still being denied access to the White House complex, according to the outlets. Lawyers for the news organizations had argued in their joint lawsuit that the ban constituted an unconstitutional violation of the First Amendment right to a free press and singled them out based on the viewpoint of their reporting.
Due Process Violations and Rejection of National Security Claims
Judge Kelly focused his ruling on Fifth Amendment procedural due process, writing that the outlets were likely to succeed on those claims because their credentials were yanked without adequate notice or a hearing. The judge noted that the government’s standard for objectionable reporting outlined in late administrative letters was so vague it hardly does the trick.
The court also dismantled the administration’s eleventh-hour pivot to national security as the justification for the bans.
Judge Kelly remained unconvinced by those assertions, pointing out that President Donald Trump’s initial public statements focused strictly on the negative tone and perceived untruthfulness of the outlets’ coverage.
Kelly added that the administration provided no hard evidence connecting the pre-lawsuit actions to genuine national security threats, observing that Trump openly pointed to the alleged lack of truthfulness and negativity of the reporting instead.
Midterm Approvals and Earlier Press Restrictions
The high-stakes press showdown unfolds against a tense political backdrop as the administration’s approval ratings hover near record lows and the Republican Party faces potential control risks in the November midterm elections. Trump has a long history of clashing with major news outlets, previously labeling critical journalists as the enemy of the people and barring organizations from the White House briefing room for distributing what he termed fake news
and fiction and lies
.
Legal challenges over White House press access are not entirely new to current politics. Judge Kelly ordered a CNN journalist’s access restored in a similar case in 2018.
Legal Triumph and the Next Litigation Steps
The court’s decision drew immediate praise from the legal team representing the banned networks. Theodore Boutrous Jr., attorney for the news organizations, hailed the decision in an emailed statement as a strong ruling vindicating freedom of the press, due process, and the rule of law.
Anticipating this move, Judge Kelly explicitly declined to pause his order, noting that doing so would undermine the core purpose of maintaining the status quo while the wider lawsuit proceeds toward a broader injunction.