WASHINGTON DC: A US federal judge on Tuesday (local time) blocked President Donald Trump's attempt to bar journalists from CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House, ruling that the administration's decision to revoke their press credentials likely violated their constitutional rights. US District Judge Timothy Kelly, who was appointed by Trump, granted a preliminary injunction, allowing reporters from the three news organisations to retain access to the White House grounds while their lawsuit against the administration proceeds.
In a 26-page ruling, Kelly found that the revocation of the journalists' hard passes likely infringed their rights under the First and Fifth Amendments to the US Constitution. The decision reinforced the judge's earlier legal reasoning that the administration's action was likely retaliatory and violated constitutional protections for the press. Explaining his assessment of the president's decision, Kelly wrote that Trump's objections to the outlets' reporting appeared to have motivated the restrictions. "President Trump likely banned Plaintiffs from the White House because he believes that their reporting is generally inaccurate and biased against him," Kelly wrote in the ruling.
The judge also rejected the Justice Department's argument that national security concerns had at least partly prompted the decision to withdraw the journalists' credentials.
"First, there is no evidence in the record that President Trump made the decision to revoke Plaintiffs' hard passes on national security grounds from the get-go, nor at any time has he directly stated that national security was the reason for his decision," he wrote.
The ruling follows a legal challenge brought by CNN, MS NOW and Politico after the Trump administration announced restrictions on their reporters' access to the White House.
The news organisations argued that the decision was an act of retaliation over their coverage of the president and therefore violated the First Amendment's protections for freedom of speech and the press.
The outlets also alleged that the administration violated their Fifth Amendment due process rights by revoking their press credentials without prior notice that their reporting could result in the loss of access or providing them an opportunity to respond before the decision was taken. (ANI)
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