The Justice Department argued that Donald Trump could legally ban CNN, MS Now and Politico from the White House because he determined they did not meet “minimum requirements of professionalism.”
Last month, a federal judge granted a temporary restraining order to three outlets, forcing the White House to reinstate hard passes to dozens of its journalists. The outlets are now asking the judge to extend that 14-day order for a longer period via preliminary injunction, claiming Trump’s ban violates their First and Fifth Amendment rights.
Trump-appointed U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly has said he is bound by the precedent set in a 1977 D.C. Circuit opinion, Sherrill v. Knight, in which the justices ruled that “the protection of news gathering under the First Amendment’s guarantee of freedom of the press requires that this access not be denied arbitrarily or for less compelling reasons.”
one in Court filing on FridayThe DOJ claimed that the Sherrill case would still allow the President to restrict the three outlets from accessing White House grounds because the White House has a “compelling interest”.
DOJ lawyers claimed that Sherrill’s decision “does not prevent the President from concluding that bona fide journalists will identify sources rather than rely on anonymous sources, commit to factual accuracy, and provide the White House an opportunity to comment, rather than ‘carry out their duties in a manner that … interferes'”[s] With the daily operations of the White House.’ …At a minimum, publishing classified and sensitive national security information is a significant breach of decorum.
The news outlets’ legal team has rejected that claim, writing in a filing earlier this week that Trump’s “statements also make clear that he implemented the ban to solicit more favorable coverage from CNN, MS Now and Politico, and to prevent other journalists and news organizations from gathering and reporting news that the President might deem negative. And his administration has continued to retaliate against the plaintiffs even after the temporary restraining order, only underscoring that “That the defendants’ motive is to punish and that they dislike cold journalism.”
Even though access to the White House grounds has been restored, the White House continues to ban CNN from coverage of TV pool assignments, including the trip with Trump on Air Force One.
Lawyers for the outlets, led by Theodore Boutrus Jr., also said that Trump and other White House officials “ignored that the First Amendment protects reporting on matters affecting national security.”
Kelly has scheduled a hearing for Thursday on the news outlets’ motion for a preliminary injunction.
In granting the TRO, Kelly concluded that the White House failed to provide due process to news outlets.
The DOJ pointed to letters sent to the outlets as evidence that they were given due process. But those letters were sent on September 22, four days after Trump’s sanctions began.
The judge also said that some of the objectionable stories cited by the DOJ have nothing to do with national security. Kelly wrote in his order that “Even the justifications provided to Plaintiffs after this case was filed are vague about the actual purpose of the revocation: While Defendants’ letters to Plaintiffs mention national security concerns, they purport to identify reporting that ‘threatens national security and/or spread falsehoods’ and leaves open the possibility that all stories will fall into the latter bucket rather than the former.”