A federal judge has directed US President Donald Trump to restore White House access to journalists from CNN, MS NOW and Politico, ruling that the administration’s ban on the three outlets likely violated the Constitution.
The order marks a significant blow to Mr Trump in a high-profile fight with the press. US District Judge Tim Kelly issued the decision in response to a lawsuit brought by the news organisations, which challenged the ban the Republican president announced on 18 September.
Judge Kelly instructed the Trump administration to immediately reinstate the outlets’ press passes and barred officials from enforcing the restriction for 14 days. He also dismissed the White House’s claim that national security concerns drove the decision.
“The record lacks factual support for defendants’ contention that the revocation of plaintiffs’ hard passes will in fact protect national security or that national security will be endangered if the court orders their passes reinstated while this litigation proceeds,” he said, adding that Mr Trump himself had stated the ban was due to “alleged lack of truthfulness and negativity” of the outlets’ reporting.
Mr Trump had written on social media that the three organisations “shouldn’t be able to constantly write or report FICTION and LIES,” while Justice Department attorneys sought to defend the ban by tying it to national security.
CNN, MS NOW and Politico filed suit on Monday in federal court in Washington against Mr Trump and other administration officials, arguing the ban infringed the US Constitution’s First Amendment protections for free speech and a free press and violated their due process rights.
As part of the case, the outlets asked the court for a temporary restraining order to quickly restore their White House access while the legal challenge continues.
A poster seen near the Press Briefing Room of the White House
The dispute has played out just weeks ahead of the 3 November midterm elections, with Mr Trump’s fellow Republicans battling to hold on to control of Congress.
At the same time, opinion polls show the president’s job approval at record lows, with public unease rising over issues including the Iran war and inflation.
Judge Kelly said yesterday that two rulings from the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit clearly establish that journalists must be afforded due process before the White House can revoke their press passes.
He said the record suggested the White House did not give the three outlets a meaningful chance to challenge the loss of access.
In court, a lawyer for the news organisations argued they were excluded without the advance notice or opportunity to contest the decision that the law requires, calling the move unprecedented, unreasonable and a severe form of punishment.
A Justice Department lawyer countered that the administration had adequately explained the revocations in letters sent to the outlets on Tuesday.
Judge Kelly, however, signalled doubts about that position, pointing out that the letters arrived only after the passes were pulled and after the lawsuit had already been filed.
In a legal filing on Tuesday, the Justice Department maintained that White House access is a privilege rather than an entitlement and contended that the president has the power to suspend access for news organisations.
A coalition of press freedom groups and dozens of media outlets filed a friend-of-the-court brief yesterday backing CNN, MS NOW and Politico.
They asserted that “stripping journalists and news outlets of their rights because of perceived editorial viewpoint violates decades of Supreme Court jurisprudence.”
The brief was signed by the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, Reuters, the Washington Post and Fox News, among others.
