A federal judge signaled deep skepticism on Wednesday afternoon during a high-stakes court hearing after an attorney representing CNN, MS NOW, and Politico requested an immediate temporary restraining order to restore press access for the news organizations.
The emergency legal bid follows President Donald Trump’s sudden revocation of credentials and press passes for the outlets’ journalists. The argument took place in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia before U.S. District Judge Timothy J. Kelly.
​Lead attorney Theodore J. Boutrous Jr., representing the plaintiffs, which include the three media companies and White House correspondents Betsy Klein (CNN), Akayla Gardner (MS NOW), and Cheyenne Haslett (Politico), argued that the administration’s ban violates both First Amendment press freedoms and Fifth Amendment due process rights.
​Boutrous urged Judge Kelly to issue an immediate temporary restraining order forcing the administration to restore hard passes and physical access to the White House complex.
He told the court that President Trump’s abrupt decision over the weekend to confiscate badges without prior notice or an opportunity to appeal set a dangerous precedent aimed at silencing unfavorable reporting.
​Boutrous dismissed late-stage claims by the government regarding potential national security risks as “post hoc” justifications. “The letters announced after-the-fact standards,” Boutrous stated, emphasising that the revocation occurred solely due to President Trump’s personal objections to the outlets’ editorial coverage.
​Justice Department attorney Michael Kenneth Velchik defended the administration’s actions, arguing that White House press access is a “privilege, not a right”.
Velchik argued that the President holds wide authority over White House grounds and contended that the ban was justified under national security protocols and minimum standards of decorum.
​Velchik asserted that the news organizations had engaged in behavior that violated professional standards and compromised sensitive security details, maintaining that the President must be allowed to take immediate protective measures.
​Judge Kelly continuously pressed the Justice Department over its timing and lack of prior process. Kelly raised longstanding D.C. Circuit precedents, including Sherrill v. Knight (1977) and Karem v. Trump (2020), which establish that the executive branch cannot arbitrarily revoke a credentialed journalist’s access without procedural due process.
​”I don’t know how a letter that they got after the pass was revoked could provide them with the kind of standards that they would have to conform their conduct to,” Judge Kelly noted during exchanges with the Justice Department.
​The legal clash escalated after President Trump announced on Friday that the three outlets were barred “effective immediately,” leading Secret Service officers to deny reporters entry over the weekend.
In response, the news organizations filed their joint lawsuit on Monday, prompting additional solidarity measures across the press corps, including a temporary hold on televised pool coverage by major broadcast networks.
​Judge Kelly concluded Wednesday’s hearing without issuing a decision from the bench, but stated he would deliver a formal ruling on the motion for a temporary restraining order “as soon as possible”.
