Judge blocks Trump

Washington — A federal judge on Tuesday blocked President Trump's attempt to ban CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House, maintaining access to the grounds for reporters from the three news organizations indefinitely.

"It is likely that President Trump's revocation of Plaintiffs' hard passes is the sort of action that would deter a reasonable reporter or news organization from publishing stories to which he objects," Kelly wrote in his decision. "The revocation of Plaintiffs' hard passes matters a lot as to how, whether, and to what extent they can do their jobs."

Mr. Trump had anticipated that his administration would lose in court to CNN, MS NOW and Politico. He said on Truth Social last month that if Kelly ruled against him, the Justice Department would appeal.

"When the President issued his 'ban on the free press,' he blatantly and explicitly violated due process and the First Amendment," Boutrous said in a statement. "Since then, the President has repeatedly, candidly, and consistently admitted in public that he banned our clients from the White House to punish reporting he doesn't like and to try to force journalists to cover him in ways he prefers. The harm this ban did to our clients, the First Amendment, and the public as a whole is profound."

The president announced last month his decision to ban journalists from CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House grounds because of what he said was their "constant 'reporting' FAKE NEWS." Reporters from the three outlets who showed up at the White House the day after the ban was announced were turned away and had their press credentials taken by the U.S. Secret Service.

The day after the outlets filed their suit, the White House Press Office sent them letters informing them of the president's initial decision to revoke their journalists' press credentials and setting a Sept. 25 deadline for them to respond. The White House argued that reporters from CNN, MS NOW and Politico violated standards of professionalism and published articles that raised national security concerns.

The news outlets asked Kelly to grant them temporary relief and restore their journalists' access to the White House, which the judge agreed to do late last month.

CNN, MS NOW and Politico also asked Kelly to grant them longer-term relief, which would remain in place as the litigation plays out.

The Justice Department has argued that the president determined the outlets should be denied access to the White House because they violated standards of professionalism and threatened national security. But Mr. Trump has repeatedly attacked the outlets for "negative" coverage of his administration and for publishing "constantly bad stories."

The judge also said the due-process concerns were "the biggest hurdle" for the Justice Department to surmount.

In his decision, Kelly said the Trump administration failed to put forward evidence that Mr. Trump's decision to revoke hard passes for CNN, MS NOW and Politico journalists initially was based on national security grounds, and reiterated that the reporting cited by the White House as raising issues is "commonplace, for better or worse."

Addressing the letters the White House sent to each of the outlets informing them of the ban, Kelly wrote that they "appear to conflate concerns about otherwise protected speech ('trafficking in verifiable falsehoods about ... other issues') with national security concerns."