The Trump administration filed a notice of appeal on Wednesday after a federal judge blocked its ban on reporters from CNN, MS NOW and Politico.
President Donald Trump gave notice on Wednesday that he will appeal a federal court ruling that stopped his administration from stripping White House credentials from journalists at CNN, MS NOW and Politico, Deadline reported. Justice Department attorneys in the civil division filed the notice of appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
The move follows a late-night decision on Tuesday in which a federal judge granted a preliminary injunction to protect White House press access for the three news organizations while their lawsuit moves forward.
A White House official confirmed the planned challenge to Fox News, calling the court’s decision misguided and arguing that reporters can cover the administration from outside the gates. “The fake news has no place demanding a spot in the president’s Oval Office,” the official said.
Why the judge blocked the restrictions
U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly issued the preliminary injunction about 90 minutes before a previous temporary order was scheduled to run out on Tuesday night. Kelly, who was appointed by Trump during his first presidential term, found that the three news organizations were likely to win their claims that the administration violated both the First Amendment and their Fifth Amendment due process rights.
Kelly ruled that the ban threatened irreparable harm to the outlets, noting that the balance of equities and the public interest favored keeping their access intact. The judge observed that White House hard passes had been pulled without warning, affecting 78 reporters across CNN, MS NOW and Politico, PBS NewsHour reported. Hard passes give reporters who regularly cover the White House longer-term access to the campus without having to ask for permission ahead of every visit. Kelly wrote that locking the organizations out of press areas open to their competitors hindered their ability to witness events firsthand, report quickly and talk directly with government officials.
Kelly also rejected a claim by the Justice Department that the administration acted on national security grounds. He wrote that the administration produced no evidence that national security motivated the ban from the start, concluding that the rationale was raised only after the fact. According to Kelly, the record showed that Trump took action because he viewed the outlets’ reporting as unfair and biased against him, according to Al Jazeera.
The dispute over media credentials
The legal fight began after Trump posted on social media on Sept. 18 that CNN, MS NOW and Politico would be barred from the White House, calling their work fiction, lies and fake news. Following the announcement, White House staff deactivated or seized reporters’ passes. The three media organizations, along with three individual journalists, filed a federal lawsuit the following Monday in Washington, D.C.
Lawyers for the media organizations, led by Theodore Boutrous Jr., argued that the White House carried out an illegal viewpoint ban designed to punish reporting the president disliked. Boutrous stated during an Oct. 8 court hearing that the administration’s actions were an attempt to force more favorable news coverage.
Justice Department attorneys defended the policy in court filings, arguing that White House press access is a privilege rather than a constitutional right. Government lawyers asserted that presidents have maintained authority since the nation’s founding to decide which reporters receive special entry to the official residence and workplace.
What happens next in court
Kelly denied the administration’s request to pause his ruling while it pursues the appeal, finding that government lawyers failed to justify a stay. That decision leaves the preliminary injunction in place, keeping the reporters’ hard passes active while the D.C. Circuit considers the case or until Kelly delivers a final judgment.
Press freedom advocates welcomed the injunction but warned that legal friction over presidential coverage will continue. Caitlin Vogus, a senior adviser for advocacy at the Freedom of the Press Foundation, said the administration will likely continue trying to exclude CNN and Politico from shared press pool rotations. “Trump must not be allowed to trample on fundamental First Amendment protections by handpicking his press corps or turning pool duties into a reward for favorable coverage,” Vogus said.
