Judge orders White House to immediately restore access to CNN, MS NOW, Politico

A federal judge ordered the White House to immediately reinstate hard-press credentials for reporters from CNN, MS NOW and Politico, concluding the outlets were likely denied their Fifth Amendment procedural due process rights. U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly issued the emergency ruling in the early hours of Thursday after holding a same-day hearing on the outlets’ lawsuit; the order is temporary and will remain in place for two weeks. The three organizations had been blocked from entering White House grounds on Saturday, and the administration later provided letters pointing to national security concerns. Kelly, a Trump appointee, noted the government did not contest that the outlets received no prior notice or opportunity for a hearing before their credentials were revoked. Kelly grounded his decision in D.C. Circuit precedent from 1977 that he said requires due process protections when the White House revokes press credentials, and he invoked the court’s 2018 ruling involving then-CNN reporter Jim Acosta as a parallel ruling. The judge wrote that, although the administration urged the court to overturn that precedent, he is bound to follow it. In court filings and argument the administration defended the bans by citing national security and pointing to specific stories published by the outlets. Kelly described those stories as routine and said he was skeptical that national security was the true motive, noting President Trump’s public statements about banning the outlets for what he characterized as untruthful and negative reporting. The president had predicted he would lose the order, called the judge unfair, and said he planned to appeal while also asserting a right to "clean out fake news."