A federal judge on Thursday temporarily extended his block on President Trump’s effort to ban CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House, and said he would decide by next week whether to extend it for a longer stretch.
Judge Timothy J. Kelly of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia said at a hearing the extension would give him time to evaluate the arguments in the case.
Mr. Trump had declared the ban in a social media post on Sept. 18, and journalists from CNN, MS NOW and Politico were barred entry the next day. The companies promptly sued over the access ban.
Judge Kelly had granted the outlets a two-week reprieve from the ban that expired on Thursday. At the hearing, the news outlets argued that their access should be extended while the lawsuit plays out, which could take months. The government argued that the president has the authority to ban the outlets. It said in a filing that the White House should be allowed to reinstate the ban while the court case continued.
Thursday’s hearing hinged largely on whether the government had taken the proper procedural steps before barring the outlets from White House grounds. After the ban took effect, the White House sent letters to the three companies laying out the rationale for the action and providing an opportunity to challenge it.
The letter said the news outlets had three days to send the White House a written response if they wanted to contest the ban. Judge Kelly’s two-week reprieve took effect before the White House’s deadline for that written response. None of the media companies sent one.
Michael Velchik, a lawyer representing the White House, said that the media outlets had “chosen not to defend themselves” because they did not respond.
Theodore J. Boutrous, a First Amendment lawyer representing the media outlets, called the White House’s process a “sham” and argued that the president had already made up his mind to ban the companies.
The hearing on Thursday focused on restoration of the news outlets’ credentials to access the White House grounds, and not on the so-called pool assignments that have emerged as a point of contention since Judge Kelly’s order took effect. The “pool” is a rotating group of journalists that shares the responsibility of covering the president in small spaces that couldn’t fit the entire press corps.
CNN has been blocked twice from serving as the TV pool representative on Air Force One for presidential trips since press credentials for its journalists have been restored. Politico was also blocked from fulfilling its pool assignment on Monday.
Judge Kelly’s initial order did not address the pool assignments.
The post Judge Extends Pause on Trump’s Ban Against CNN, MS NOW and Politico appeared first on New York Times.
