A federal judge ruled early Thursday that the Trump administration must immediately restore access to multiple media outlets that were barred from White House coverage while a lawsuit plays out.
In a ruling from the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, Judge Timothy Kelly wrote that the administration likely "violated their constitutional due process rights, and 'enforcement of an unconstitutional law is always contrary to the public interest,'" and ordered it to restore press credentials for CNN, MS Now and Politico.
Kelly said the temporary restraining order will last 14 days.
The ruling comes one day after the judge heard arguments in the case without issuing a bench decision.
The access bans began on Sept. 19, one day after the president said he would restrict access for CNN, MS Now and Politico. The outlets sued the Trump Administration on Sept. 21 on First Amendment grounds.
Trump's frustration with news coverage of his administration came as his approval rating stood at 34%, according to Pew.
Trump accused the three outlets of producing “fake news.”
“Media outlets shouldn’t be able to constantly write or report FICTION and LIES when they’re covering the president of the United States, the Trump administration or the United States of America,” Trump wrote.
Trump said the bans could be lifted if the outlets “straighten out.”
RELATED STORY | Ban on White House press access stays in place while judge considers the case
The Trump administration claimed in court that the ban on reporters at the White House stems from national security concerns.
The White House expressed to the judge its frustrations with reporting on a ballroom planned to replace the now-demolished East Wing of the White House. The three outlets reported on the project’s security features and cost.
The White House also objected to the outlets’ coverage of the war in Iran, including reports alleging a school in Iran was bombed after the Pentagon received faulty intelligence.
“Publication of sensitive security information, and misinformation about national security information, diverts White House resources and those of the national security team in particular, which must evaluate whether the leaked information is classified, the source of any leak, and the security implications of any such disclosure,” the White House said in a letter to the outlets.
Kelly wrote that the Trump administration "offer little to back up their asserted national security interest to justify revocation of plaintiffs’ hard passes."
"Nothing in the record that predates this suit suggests that the revocation of Plaintiffs’ hard passes was motivated by national security concerns," Kelly added. "Certainly, that is not what President Trump said when he announced that he was 'banning' Plaintiffs from the White House—instead, he focused on the alleged lack of truthfulness and negativity of Plaintiffs’ reporting.
"And even the justifications provided to Plaintiffs after this case was filed are ambiguous about the true purpose of the revocations: while Defendants’ letters to Plaintiffs mention national security concerns, they purport to identify reporting that 'threatened national security and/or spread falsehoods,' leaving open the possibility that all the stories fall into the later bucket, rather than the former."
Earlier in Trump’s second term, the White House restricted The Associated Press’ access to some events after the news organization continued using the name Gulf of Mexico while acknowledging Trump’s decision to rename it the Gulf of America.
The AP sued, arguing the restrictions violated its First Amendment rights. The case remains in court.
Trump also attempted to restrict CNN reporter Jim Acosta’s access during his first term. A federal judge later restored Acosta’s White House credentials.
RELATED STORY | Reporters from CNN, MS Now, and Politico barred from White House
The E.W. Scripps Company, which is our parent company, signed on to a filing alongside the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, the White House Correspondents’ Association and 48 other media organizations to oppose the Trump administration’s ban on these three outlets. Our filing asked the judge to grant a temporary restraining order to restore access for our colleagues.
