New York: A federal judge early Thursday temporarily blocked President Donald Trump’s move to ban three news outlets from the White House grounds and said CNN, MS NOW, and Politico must have their access restored.
It’s the latest development in an escalating showdown between Trump and media outlets whose coverage he dislikes. Trump announced he was banning the outlets Friday, assailing what he called “fake news.” More recently, the president has said negative coverage was dangerous for the country.
The outlets argued they were singled out because of the content of their coverage — in other words, viewpoint discrimination — and called the ban a “blatant violation” of the First Amendment.
In an order, US District Judge Timothy Kelly said the media outlets had met the legal thresholds needed to obtain a temporary restraining order, which include likelihoods of succeeding on the merits of the case and of suffering irreparable harm without an order.
“This is a high bar, but Plaintiffs have met it,” he wrote.
Kelly — whom Trump nominated in 2017 and who ordered a CNN journalist’s access restored in a similar case in 2018 — heard arguments Wednesday and ended the hearing without ruling.
He issued a temporary restraining order that will be in effect for 14 days. Such orders are typically designed to preserve the status quo pending a closer review of the case by the court.
The White House did not immediately respond to an email from The Associated Press requesting comment.
In an emergency hearing Wednesday, the judge had questioned whether the administration had met its legal responsibilities and provided the outlets with adequate due process before banning them,
Kelly said his decision must be guided by prior rulings in comparable First Amendment cases, even if the government disagrees with them. “These are urgent matters,” Theodore Boutrous Jr., attorney for the outlets, had argued, saying there had been irreparable harm to the outlets at a time of momentous news events. “We’re at war. We have world leaders coming to Washington.” Justice Department attorney Michael Velchik had reiterated the administration’s point that the president had the right to choose who gets into the White House.
“Access to the White House is a privilege, not a right,” Velchik said.
In arguing that Trump was not engaging in viewpoint discrimination, Velchik said the president had criticised other news organisations even more harshly — such as calling ABC “the worst” — but hadn’t banned them.
“The president should be able to take immediate action to protect national security,” Velchik told the court. In response, Boutrous said, “Suddenly it’s a national security case,” arguing that the president brought up that point only after the lawsuit was filed. Trump “keeps proving our point,” Boutrous said, describing how the president has consistently used negative coverage of him as justification for the ban.
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