Judge reinstates media outlets banned by Trump, orders 14-day temporary restraining order
by Susan Ferrechio · The Washington TimesA judge temporarily reinstated three media outlets that President Trump ejected from the White House.
U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly early Thursday issued a 14-day temporary restraining order against Mr. Trump’s ban of CNN, MS Now and Politico, pending additional court arguments in the case.
He ordered the Trump administration to “immediately return, reinstate and restore” the press credentials the White House revoked on Friday.
The judge’s decision will temporarily pause Mr. Trump’s escalating battle with the larger media that has left the White House and the president without official coverage from the television and still photo pools designated to record and distribute footage and photos to networks and affiliates. It comes as the president is slated to host Chinese President Xi Jinping for a White House State Dinner on Thursday.
The president revoked the credentials of the three outlets on Friday, citing their “fake news” and overwhelmingly negative coverage of his administration. Nearly 80 journalists from the three outlets were blocked from entering the White House. Some had their credentials seized when they tried to enter.
Dozens of news outlets filed a court brief Wednesday in support of the banned outlets while the television networks and still photographers boycotted pool coverage and distribution of images of Mr. Trump in solidarity with the three banned outlets.
Judge Kelly, a Trump appointee, agreed with the media outlets’ lawyer, Theodore “Ted” Boutrous Jr., who argued in court on Wednesday that the sudden ban violated the First Amendment and the organizations’ rights to due process.
“Moreover, Plaintiffs — and the public — have an abiding interest in maintaining the status quo… given the importance of the free press, which ‘stands as one of the great interpreters between the government and the people,’” Judge Kelly wrote in his decision, citing a 1936 case against separately taxing newspapers.
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The judge appeared unconvinced by the Trump administration’s argument, put forward by Justice Department senior counsel Michael Velchik, that the three outlets posed a threat to national security. He used Mr. Trump’s own words to make his case.
“Certainly that is not what President Trump said when he announced that he was ‘banning’ Plaintiffs from the White House,” Judge Kelly wrote. “Instead, he focused on the alleged lack of truthfulness and negativity of Plaintiff’s reporting.”
The Trump administration sent letters Tuesday to the three outlets, detailing the stories it says were a threat to national security and setting Friday as the deadline for the outlets to respond.
“If they have points to raise, they can do so to the president, who will consider anything — but I didn’t even hear them objecting to those points here today,” Mr. Velchik argued.
Mr. Boutrous called the judge’s decision “a strong ruling vindicating freedom of the press, due process and the rule of law.”
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The temporary block of Mr. Trump’s ban allows time for the plaintiffs to argue for a preliminary injunction that would provide a longer reinstatement of the journalists’ credentials ahead of a trial.
In a 19-page document filed late Tuesday opposing the temporary restraining order sought by the three outlets, the Justice Department laid out its case against the journalists, arguing they have no constitutional right to the nonpublic areas of the White House and their access can be restricted, even for viewpoint-discrimination reasons.
The DOJ cited cases throughout U.S. history where presidents battled with the press, restricting and rewarding access depending on the reporters’ coverage. Mr. Trump, the doc said, isn’t discriminating. Other outlets that produce unfavorable coverage continue to have access.
The White House sent letters Tuesday to the outlets notifying them that their hard passes, which grant them access to White House grounds, had been revoked for “behavior in violation of the standards of professionalism and decorum expected of those given access” to the executive mansion.
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The White House letter listed the offenses: “Trafficking in verifiable falsehoods about national security and other issues and publishing sensitive or classified information.”
Judge Kelly noted in his decision Thursday that the administration had not provided examples of leaked information by the press that indicates reinstating their credentials poses an imminent threat to national security.
“Nothing in the record suggests the need for such urgency here. Indeed, some of the reporting identified by Defendants in the letters to Plaintiffs stretches back months or years,” Judge Kelly wrote.
Mr. Trump earlier this week predicted Judge Kelly, whom he appointed, would rule against him in the case as the judge had done in a previous media case.
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Before Judge Kelly made his ruling, Mr. Trump said he planned to appeal, but the short-term order is not immediately appealable.
The Trump administration this week announced the debut of Trump TV, an online site providing live and recorded coverage of all of Mr. Trump’s public events.
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Susan Ferrechio
sferrechio@washingtontimes.com
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