Following President Donald Trump‘s White House ban on CNN, MS NOW and Politico last month, a federal judge has once again blocked him from doing so.
U.S. District Judge Timothy J. Kelly wrote in the ruling issued Tuesday evening that the outlets are “likely to succeed not only on their due process claim, but also on their two First Amendment claims.” Thus, the Court granted their motion for a preliminary injunction and extended the previously awarded relief, which will continue to preserve the status quo as the case proceeds.
“Still, no one should interpret the Court’s decision to suggest that President Trump’s concerns about accuracy and fairness in the media’s reporting are unfounded, or that the government is powerless when its true aim is to protect national security when classified information is unlawfully disclosed,” the judge noted.
The judge previously ordered the White House to immediately reinstate access to the news organizations on Sept. 24 after the president banned them initially. At the time, Kelly granted the news orgs’ motion for a temporary restraining order in their lawsuit against Trump and three White House officials, alleging the ban violated the First Amendment.
The White House must “immediately return, reinstate, and restore the White House ‘hard pass’ press credentials held by employees of CNN, MS NOW, and POLITICO that were revoked on or about September 18, 2026, until further Order of the Court or the expiration of this Temporary Restraining Order,” Kelly wrote in the ruling.
In September, Trump posted on social media that he was “proud to announce that, effective immediately,” he was “banning” the three outlets from the White House. When reporters from those news organizations arrived the following day, they were denied entry despite holding “hard passes.” CNN, MS NOW and Politico then sued Trump and three White House officials over the ban, alleging it violates the First Amendment and “brazenly discriminates based on editorial viewpoint.”
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