Reporters for CNN, Politico and MS NOW returned to the White House on Thursday after a federal judge ordered the Trump administration to restore press credentials taken from the three organizations. Their return ended a nearly weeklong exclusion, but the lawsuit testing the government’s authority to bar journalists over their coverage remains unresolved.
President Donald Trump announced the ban on September 18, accusing the outlets of publishing false and negative reports about him. The following morning, their White House reporters were denied entry, and their press passes were deactivated or confiscated. The organizations filed suit Monday, arguing that the administration had retaliated against protected reporting and revoked established access without notice or a chance to contest the decision.
U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly issued a temporary restraining order early Thursday requiring the White House to restore the credentials immediately. He found that the outlets were likely to succeed on their claim that the revocations violated constitutional due process protections. The order lasts 14 days while the court considers whether to keep the reporters’ access in place for a longer period.
The reporters’ return was delayed despite that order. Journalists from the affected outlets were turned away when they arrived Thursday morning and were admitted around noon. The outlets asked the court to intervene again during the delay. In a court filing, a White House press operations official said staff had been notified of the ruling at 7:10 a.m. Eastern time and began reinstating the passes at 7:25 a.m. The available record does not establish that the morning delay was an intentional refusal to obey the judge.
The administration has argued in court that reporting by the outlets raised national security concerns and that the president has authority over access to the White House. Kelly questioned whether the security explanation accounted for the decision to revoke these particular credentials. He also noted the absence of notice and an opportunity for the reporters to respond before their passes were taken.
The dispute reaches beyond the three newsrooms. The First Amendment protects speech and the press from government punishment based on what they publish. The Fifth Amendment’s due process protections require fair procedures when the government takes certain actions against individuals or organizations. The outlets contend that the White House violated both provisions. Thursday’s order addressed their immediate access and found a likely due process violation; it did not deliver a final ruling on all their claims.
White House access is valuable because credentialed reporters can attend briefings, question officials and cover presidential events directly. A government decision to exclude an outlet can therefore affect the information available to the public, even though it cannot prevent that outlet from publishing. The case asks what limits apply when an administration objects to coverage produced by journalists who already hold White House credentials.
Other news organizations have backed the challenge. The White House Correspondents’ Association, the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press and dozens of media organizations submitted a court brief supporting the three outlets. Major television networks also suspended some shared video coverage after CNN was removed from a scheduled press pool assignment.
CNN, Politico and MS NOW can report from the White House under the temporary order. The judge has set a September 28 deadline for the outlets to seek a longer injunction, giving the court another opportunity to examine the administration’s reasons for the ban and the constitutional claims against it.