Judge Timothy J. Kelly
A federal judge in Washington, D.C., has ordered the Trump administration to restore White House access for journalists from CNN, MS NOW, and Politico, ruling that President Donald Trump’s ban on the outlets was likely unconstitutional.
U.S. District Judge Timothy J. Kelly, a Trump appointee from 2017 and the same judge who forced the White House to give CNN’s Jim Acosta his pass back in 2018, signed a Temporary Restraining Order in the early hours of Thursday morning.
The outlets only had to post a laughable $1 bond.
The order directs administration officials, excluding President Trump personally, and those acting with them to return and reinstate the affected passes. The order covers credentials revoked on or about September 18.
The Gateway Pundit reported on Wednesday that Judge Kelly appeared skeptical during a hearing on Trump’s media ban.
A lawyer for the outlets accused the Trump Administration of banning the news organizations “completely out of the blue” and urged the judge to immediately restore their access.
“I think it is fair to say that process … wasn’t followed here, talking about predeprivation process,” Judge Kelly said, according to CNBC.
Judge Kelly concluded the hearing without issuing a ruling but said he will rule ‘soon.’
President Trump said he expects to lose the case even though it is assigned to one of his appointees.
“…We’ll go for appeal because Fake News people and publications that only write negatively, and who violate our National Security by writing false and defamatory stories with unknown “sources” shouldn’t be allowed access to the most important Office…” Trump said.
And he is right.
Early Thursday, Kelly’s ruling rests on the outlets’ Fifth Amendment due process claim. He found they were likely to show that their passes were revoked without prior notice or an opportunity to respond, and that the White House had not established clear standards beforehand for conduct that could lead to revocation.
The administration argued that the ban was justified by national security concerns. But Kelly said the record offered little factual support for that claim, including no explanation of how the cited reporting damaged national security or how restoring the passes would endanger it.
The ruling is temporary. The restraining order lasts 14 days while the case continues, and the court plans expedited briefing on whether to issue a preliminary injunction. The order requires the plaintiffs to post a $1 bond by October 1. It does not resolve the full lawsuit or finally decide every claim.
As The Gateway Pundit reported Friday, President Trump announced the ban on Truth Social:
I am proud to announce that, effective immediately, I am banning Fake News CNN, MSNOW (who recently changed their name from MSNBC due to lack of viewership and credibility!), and Politico (The recipients of an illegal and ridiculous $8 Million Dollar subscription, an All Time Record, directly from the United States Government, under Crooked Joe Biden, in order to keep them “alive.” Seems like corruption to me!), from the White House as a result of their constant “reporting” FAKE NEWS!
Over the weekend, the Secret Service deactivated the passes and turned reporters away. The three outlets raced to court Monday.
Kelly made clear he is bound by D.C. Circuit precedent whether he likes the result or not. The White House had argued those older cases were wrongly decided. The judge’s response: “this Court is bound by D.C. Circuit precedent, full stop.”
Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio have both pointed out the screaming hypocrisy. The Biden White House quietly yanked hard passes from more than 440 journalists with barely a peep from the same press corps now screaming “First Amendment emergency.”
Conservative outlets never got the special White House workspace access these three now demand as a constitutional right.
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