Judge extends block on Trump's White House press ban, saying CNN and others likely to win

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U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly issued a preliminary injunction on Tuesday, October 13, extending the court's earlier block on the Trump administration's ban of CNN, MS NOW and Politico journalists from the White House. The outlets' White House hard passes will remain in place while the lawsuit proceeds.

Kelly wrote that the outlets are likely to succeed on their Fifth Amendment due-process claim and two First Amendment claims: that the ban retaliated against their reporting and discriminated against their viewpoints. He repeatedly cited President Trump's own public comments criticizing the outlets' coverage as evidence the ban was meant to pressure them into more favorable reporting.

On the Justice Department's national-security rationale, Kelly was unconvinced: he found practically nothing in the record connecting the ban to national security, and the reasons government lawyers raised - including reports on missile stockpiles and a White House ballroom project - were offered only after the ban was announced.

The judge added a caveat: the ruling does not mean Trump's concerns about accuracy and fairness in media coverage are unfounded, nor that the government is powerless when classified information is unlawfully disclosed. It is an interim order, not a final judgment, and it does not require the administration to admit the reporters to the Oval Office or Air Force One.

Background: Trump announced the ban on September 18, complaining of "fake news" reporting; reporters found their hard passes deactivated the next day. The outlets sued, and Kelly issued a temporary restraining order on September 24 restoring access. That order expired on October 13 and is now extended as a longer-lasting preliminary injunction.