Reporters Committee statement on judge ordering White House to restore press access to CNN, MS NOW, Politico

A federal judge on Thursday ordered the Trump administration to temporarily restore White House access to CNN, MS NOW, and Politico, concluding that President Donald Trump’s ban on the news outlets likely violated their constitutional rights. 

In an eight-page ruling, Judge Timothy Kelly of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia held that the Trump administration had violated the news outlets’ Fifth Amendment due process rights by failing to provide fair warning before revoking their press credentials. The judge also dismissed the government’s claims that the news outlets were shut out of the White House because their reporting had posed a threat to national security. 

Hours after the ruling was issued, reporters from all three news outlets were once again denied entry to the White House.

Reporters Committee President Bruce D. Brown made the following statement:

“This ruling is an important win for the American public. The judge rightly recognized the irreparable damage that this media ban has inflicted on the targeted news outlets. These harms spread throughout the entire press corps, as the broad amicus coalition we represented so powerfully demonstrated. Given the early reports that the White House is not restoring access, the most important next step is ensuring that the administration honors the injunction and rule of law.”

A day before the ruling, Reporters Committee — joined by 50 media outlets and industry groups, including the White House Correspondents’ Association — filed a friend-of-the-court brief in support of CNN, MS NOW, and Politico’s lawsuit challenging the ban. The brief argued that the White House ban violated the First Amendment and deprived the public of timely, newsworthy information about the statements and actions of the president.