A federal judge extended his order requiring the White House to restore press credentials for journalists with news outlets it banned last month.
The ruling comes after CNN, MS NOW, and Politico filed a lawsuit challenging the administration's decision to ban them.
From Politico:
A federal judge has extended his order restoring White House press credentials to journalists for three news organizations President Donald Trump sought to ban over their reporting.
U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly issued a preliminary injunction Tuesday giving POLITICO, CNN and MS NOW continued access to the White House complex while litigation plays out.
A federal judge has extended his order restoring White House press credentials to journalists for three news organizations President Donald Trump sought to ban over their reporting.
U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly issued a preliminary injunction Tuesday giving POLITICO, CNN and MS NOW continued access to the White House complex while litigation plays out.
Kelly, a Trump appointee, said the president’s mass cancellation of hard passes for nearly 80 reporters likely violated due process because Trump didn’t give the media outlets advance notice that concerns over their reporting could jeopardize access to the White House.
Kelly also said Trump’s oft-aired grievances with the reporting of the three news organizations bolstered the court’s conclusion that the ban likely amounted to "retaliation" and “viewpoint discrimination” in violation of the First Amendment.
“Presidents have criticized the media along these lines since time immemorial,” Kelly wrote in a 26-page opinion. “No one should read this decision as suggesting that President Trump’s complaints are meritless. Still, his comments are more than enough to show a likely causal link between Plaintiffs’ protected First Amendment speech and his revocation of their hard passes.”
Theodore Boutrous Jr., an attorney representing the news outlets, touted the ruling, saying President Donald Trump “has repeatedly, candidly, and consistently admitted in public that he banned our clients from the White House to punish reporting he doesn’t like and to try to force journalists to cover him in ways he prefers.”
US Judge Blocks Trump’s Ban On CNN, MS NOW, Politico https://t.co/sGdQT3Ns4b https://t.co/sqSC492a9r
— The Whistler Newspaper (@TheWhistlerNG) October 14, 2026
Trump announced on Truth Social in September that he was banning the three news organizations from the White House because of their constant “reporting” of “FAKE NEWS.” He argued that media outlets “shouldn’t be able to constantly write or report FICTION and LIES when they’re covering the President of the United States, the Trump administration, or the United States of America.”
The president later told reporters that the decision resulted from “cumulative stories over the past few years” of what he described as biased and inaccurate coverage of his administration.