Trump-Appointed Judge Orders White House to Restore CNN, MS NOW and Politico Press Access, Calls Ban Likely Unconstitutional

Since President Trump announced on Sept. 18 that he was banning CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House over what he called "FAKE NEWS," the standoff has moved from Truth Social to a federal courtroom, and now, temporarily, back to the White House press gates.

U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly issued a temporary restraining order early Thursday, Sept. 24, ordering the administration to "immediately return, reinstate, and restore" the three outlets' hard-pass credentials, which were revoked Sept. 18 after Trump's post accusing the outlets of writing "fiction or lies." Kelly found the outlets were likely to win their Fifth Amendment due process claim because they got no notice or chance to respond before losing access, according to his written order cited by the Associated Press, CNBC and Axios.

What happened next was not a smooth handoff. Despite the overnight order, Secret Service agents at the White House gates continued turning away reporters from all three outlets Thursday morning. A Politico reporter was told he'd need a temporary day pass. MS NOW correspondent Laura Barrón-López had her badge confiscated again before it was later returned. Attorney Ted Boutrous, representing all three outlets, filed an emergency notice of noncompliance, writing "time is of the essence" because CNN was scheduled to be the TV pool camera for Xi Jinping's state visit that same afternoon.

Kelly gave the administration until 12:30 p.m. to respond. The White House's director of press operations submitted a sworn declaration saying his office was notified at 7:10 a.m., began restoring badges at 7:25 a.m., and had them back with the Secret Service by 9:07 a.m., with confiscated badges physically returned to reporters by noon, according to filings reported by The Hill and ABC News. Reporters from CNN, MS NOW and Politico were confirmed back on White House grounds by early afternoon.

Kelly's order didn't stop at due process. He also directly rejected the Justice Department's argument that the ban was about national security. DOJ lawyers had pointed to the outlets' coverage of missile stockpiles, construction of the White House ballroom, and the Republican midterm convention as justification, according to court filings referenced by BBC. Kelly wasn't buying it. "Nothing in the record that predates this suit suggests that the revocation of Plaintiffs' hard passes was motivated by national security concerns," he wrote, noting Trump's own initial announcement made no mention of security at all, only that the outlets wrote "fake news."

Trump announced the ban citing bad coverage. The security justification surfaced only after the lawsuit was filed. Courts are right to be skeptical when a stated rationale shows up after the fact, and Kelly was.

Kelly, whom Trump appointed to the bench in 2017, has been here before. He's the same judge who ordered then-CNN reporter Jim Acosta's press pass restored in 2018 during Trump's first term, citing the 1977 Sherrill v. Knight precedent that once the White House opens press facilities to bona fide journalists, it can't yank access arbitrarily. He leaned on that same precedent again here, along with a 2019 ruling protecting reporter Brian Karem.

The Daily Signal's Fred Lucas drew a useful contrast. During the Biden administration, a different judge, John Bates, upheld a purge of 442 White House hard passes aimed largely at Cameroonian journalist Simon Ateba, ruling that administration's credentialing rules were applied uniformly. The distinction Kelly drew here is that Trump's ban targeted three specific outlets by name over the content of their coverage, with no uniform standard, which is a much weaker legal position regardless of which party is in the White House.

The order runs 14 days. The outlets must file for a longer-term preliminary injunction by Monday, Sept. 28. The administration has until Oct. 2 to respond, with the outlets replying by Oct. 5, per the schedule Kelly set, according to the LA Times. No ruling on the injunction is expected before then.

Broadcasters including Fox News, NBC, CBS and ABC pulled out of pool coverage in solidarity with the banned outlets last week. As of Thursday, none had confirmed whether they'll resume normal pool rotation now that access has been restored, according to BBC. The White House has not said whether it plans to appeal Kelly's ruling, and Trump himself predicted on social media that his administration would likely lose but appeal anyway, calling the outlets' sourcing methods a threat to the country's security.