Trump administration appeals order blocking White House media ban

The Trump administration has appealed a federal order that prevents the White House from barring CNN, MS NOW and Politico personnel from White House press areas. The Trump appeal White House media ban case matters because the ruling currently preserves the outlets’ ability to gather news on the White House campus while the underlying lawsuit continues.

The Justice Department filed its notice of appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit on Oct. 14, according to CNBC and Deadline. The filing challenges a preliminary injunction issued late Oct. 13 by U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly.

Kelly, a Trump appointee, found that the three outlets were likely to prevail at this stage on claims involving due process and the First Amendment, according to PBS NewsHour’s reporting of the ruling. A preliminary injunction is a court order that preserves the parties’ positions while a lawsuit moves forward, rather than a final decision on the case.

What does the White House media ban order cover?

The order stops the administration from revoking the outlets’ “hard passes,” the longer-term credentials that let reporters who regularly cover the White House enter the campus without seeking advance permission for each visit. It affects 78 reporters across CNN, MS NOW and Politico, PBS reported.

The injunction does not require the White House to admit those journalists to every location. NBC News reported that it does not guarantee access to the Oval Office or Air Force One, where the administration had separately blocked some CNN and Politico reporters.

The appeal did not itself halt the injunction on the available record. PBS reported that the administration asked Kelly to suspend his order pending appeal, and that he declined. The restrictions on enforcing the ban therefore remain in place unless a higher court changes them or the litigation produces another ruling.

How the dispute reached the appeals court

President Donald Trump announced the bans in a Sept. 18 social-media post criticizing the outlets’ coverage. The three organizations then sued in Washington, alleging that the action amounted to unconstitutional punishment based on the content of their reporting, according to NBC News.

Kelly first issued a temporary restraining order on Sept. 24, restoring access while he considered whether longer-lasting relief was warranted. His preliminary injunction replaced that temporary order as it was set to expire, PBS reported.

In his ruling, Kelly said the administration’s national-security rationale was unsupported in the record and was raised after the hard passes had been revoked, according to PBS and NBC News. He also found that the outlets were likely to face irreparable harm without the injunction.

Government lawyers have argued that White House access is a privilege rather than a right and cited national-security and misinformation concerns, PBS reported. A White House spokesperson said after the appeal that the outlets could report from outside the complex, according to NBC News.

The D.C. Circuit will now consider the administration’s challenge while the lower-court lawsuit proceeds.

This story draws on original reporting from CNBC.