U.S. District Judge Tim Kelly issued the temporary restraining order in a lawsuit filed by the three news organisations after Trump announced on September 18 that they would be barred from the White House complex. The outlets said their reporters' hard press passes were confiscated on Saturday, September 20, when they arrived for work.
At a hearing on Wednesday, Kelly, a Trump appointee, said due process "wasn't followed here" and that two D.C. Circuit precedents made clear journalists were entitled to a meaningful opportunity to contest revocation of their access. The judge noted that Trump himself had stated the ban was due to the "alleged lack of truthfulness and negativity" of the outlets' reporting, not national security.
In his order, Kelly wrote: "The record lacks factual support for defendants' contention that the revocation of plaintiffs' hard passes will in fact protect national security or that national security will be endangered if the court orders their passes reinstated while this litigation proceeds." The restraining order blocks enforcement of the ban for 14 days while the case continues.
The White House pool — the remaining outlets that had continued covering Trump — had suspended coverage in protest after the ban. Justice Department lawyers had argued that White House access was a "privilege, not a right" and that the ban did not violate the First Amendment.
The legal battle comes weeks before the November 3 midterm elections, in which Trump's fellow Republicans are fighting to retain control of Congress. Trump has developed a hostile relationship with journalists who report critically on his administration.