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A federal judge has ordered the Trump administration to immediately restore White House press credentials for CNN, MS NOW and Politico, delivering a sharp rebuke to officials who stripped the outlets of access earlier this month. U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly directed the White House to “immediately return, reinstate, and restore” the three outlets’ hard-pass credentials, according to a federal district judge’s court order.
The order applies for 14 days while the outlets’ lawsuit against the administration proceeds, according to the federal judge’s ruling. President Donald Trump had banned the three outlets from the White House, with credentials revoked around Sept. 18, according to court filings cited by news reports.
Judge Cites Due Process Failures
Kelly found that the revocation of the outlets’ press badges was carried out without “constitutionally adequate due process,” according to the federal judge’s ruling. That finding strikes at the heart of the legal dispute, since the administration had defended the bans as a matter of executive discretion rather than a constitutional question.
The Department of Justice argued that White House access is “a privilege — not a right” and that the outlets’ reporting raised national-security concerns, according to the Department of Justice. Kelly rejected that framing in his written opinion, noting that the government provided little evidence that revoking the passes would actually protect national security, according to the federal judge’s ruling. The gap between the administration’s stated justification and the evidence it produced appears to have weighed heavily on the judge’s decision to intervene so quickly.
The timing of the ruling was notable. It came just hours before Trump welcomed Chinese leader Xi Jinping to the White House, according to news reporting on the timeline of events, meaning the press-access fight erupted on one of the administration’s highest-profile diplomatic days of the year.
Reporters Turned Away Despite Ruling
The court order did not immediately translate into access. Despite the ruling, reporters from the three outlets were still initially turned away from the White House grounds Thursday morning, according to reporters from the affected outlets. Secret Service agents confiscated the hard passes of some journalists whose credentials had not previously been confiscated, according to the media outlets’ court filing, complicating an already tense standoff between the press and the administration.
The continued denials prompted Kelly to act again. He ordered the administration to respond in writing by 12:30 p.m. after journalists were turned away despite his order, according to the federal judge’s follow-up order. The rapid back-and-forth underscored how contested the situation remained even after a judge had explicitly weighed in.
The friction did not end once access was nominally restored. Hours after regaining access, an MS NOW White House reporter was denied entry to the arrival ceremony ahead of the state dinner for Chinese President Xi Jinping, according to the MS NOW reporter’s account. The episode suggested that, even with a court order in hand, journalists from the three outlets faced inconsistent treatment on the ground.
What Comes Next
Kelly denied the media outlets’ request for an emergency hearing after their access was restored, according to the federal judge’s order. Instead, he set a longer-term path for resolving the dispute. The outlets were given until Monday, following the ruling, to submit a motion for a preliminary injunction to block the ban long-term, according to the federal judge’s order. That filing will determine whether the temporary reinstatement becomes a lasting fix or whether the fight over access resumes in a matter of weeks.
Attorneys for the news organizations characterized the ruling as a significant win. Ted Boutrous, representing the news outlets, said the ruling is “a strong ruling vindicating freedom of the press, due process and the rule of law,” according to the news outlets’ attorney. His comments reflect the broader stakes that press advocates see in the case: not just three outlets’ access, but a precedent for how future administrations can treat credentialed journalists.
The case also carries a notable historical echo. Judge Timothy Kelly is the same judge who previously ordered the first Trump administration to restore then-CNN correspondent Jim Acosta’s press credentials, according to court history noted in news reporting. That earlier fight, which unfolded during Trump’s first term, similarly centered on due process protections for journalists covering the White House, and Kelly’s renewed involvement suggests a judicial familiarity with the recurring tension between the administration and outlets it has publicly criticized.
For now, the practical picture remains unsettled. The 14-day window gives CNN, MS NOW and Politico reporters a chance to resume coverage from the White House grounds, but Thursday’s confusion — with passes confiscated and a reporter blocked from a high-profile ceremony even after the court order — shows that formal restoration of credentials has not fully resolved the standoff. The coming days, and the Monday injunction filing, are likely to determine whether the access dispute is settled or heads toward another round of legal wrangling.
