A United States court has ordered the White House to immediately restore access for after concluding that their lawsuit against the White House for restricting access to their coverage is likely to be granted.
U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly issued a 14-day temporary order allowing the three media outlets to continue their coverage of the White House while the lawsuits continue.
Kelly concluded their lawsuit might be granted, at least on the argument that their press credentials to cover the White House were revoked without due process.
The Trump administration, he said, did not deny that the three media outlets were not given warning or an opportunity to respond before their coverage access was revoked.
Judge Kelly's ruling rejected the White House's argument that it had blocked access to the three media outlets under the pretext of national security.
He also highlighted Trump's statement that he blamed the three media outlets for inaccurate and negative reporting rather than national security issues when announcing the ban on coverage of them.
President Trump announced the coverage ban on Friday, accusing CNN, MSNOW, and Politico of producing "fake news." He also suggested that other media outlets could suffer the same fate.
Trump even called the move a ban on the "free press" and said he did not want to see the three media outlets again in the White House.
He said the decision was based on what he considered negative coverage from the three media outlets, rather than any particular report immediately challenged the ban in court, accusing the Trump administration of retaliating against their reporting.
They also said the White House's move could force other journalists to adjust their reporting for fear of being banned from reporting.
In his ruling, Judge Kelly asserted that the First Amendment to the US Constitution protects the press from government action that disagrees with the content of their reporting.
Ahead of the verdict, Trump had already criticized Kelly, calling him "very disloyal," on social media. He also announced he would appeal the decision, which he said was against his wishes.
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