Trump Administration Blocked From Banning Media Outlets From White House, Judge Rules

A federal judge on Tuesday again blocked President Trump’s attempt to bar CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House, ensuring the outlets will have access to the complex as their legal case to overturn the ban continues. https://t.co/CFEvZsDdZl

— The New York Times (@nytimes) October 14, 2026

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Kelly sided with the news outlets, noting that Trump used national security as a reason for the ban after their press passes had already been revoked and ruling that it also likely violated reporters’ freedom of speech and due process rights.

“There is practically nothing national security-related in the record connected to the President’s decision to revoke Plaintiffs’ hard passes to which the Court can defer,” Kelly wrote in his 26-page opinion.

His order will give the outlets access to the White House until the underlying lawsuit challenging the ban is resolved. But it doesn’t require the administration to allow reporters from the outlets access to the Oval Office or Air Force One — locations where the administration has blocked reporters from CNN and Politico in recent weeks.

Kelly had issued a temporary restraining order lifting the ban while he weighed whether to issue an injunction.

The Trump administration appealed Kelly’s order Wednesday afternoon. In a statement Wednesday, a White House spokesperson said: “The Fake News has no place demanding a spot in the President’s Oval Office. The lies they smear are a disservice to the American public and tear at the very fabric of our Democracy. They’re completely capable of reporting from directly outside.”

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BREAKING: Judge Timothy Kelly issued a preliminary injunction requiring the White House to restore press credentials for CNN, MS NOW, and POLITICO, finding that Trump's ban likely violated the First and Fifth Amendments. pic.twitter.com/uwB2fUtRXo

— SCOTUS Wire (@scotus_wire) October 14, 2026

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During arguments at the E Barrett Prettyman federal courthouse in Washington, Kelly seemed inclined to lift the ban indefinitely, telling a lawyer for the federal government that his side had “a notice problem” that was “probably the biggest hurdle” they had to overcome.

The Trump White House gave no advance notice to the media companies affected to say that they were at risk of losing their press badges, which the news organizations have said are essential to their ability to cover the administration. While the White House sent letters to the media companies informing them of the ban, they did so post-hoc, after building access had already been cut off, in violation of binding court precedent.

In his ruling on Tuesday, Judge Kelly wrote that the plaintiffs “are likely to succeed not only on their due process claim, but also on their two First Amendment claims”. While access to the White House is not guaranteed, court precedent dictates that once it is provided to journalists, it cannot be taken away for editorial or viewpoint-based reasons.

During arguments for a preliminary injunction on 8 October, media lawyer Theodore J Boutrous told the judge that Trump had offered a “confession” – in a Time magazine interview last week – that he was banning the media companies explicitly because of the content of their reporting, not because of any other considerations, such as national security.

“The case has gotten stronger for the plaintiffs thanks to President Trump,” Boutrous told the judge.

The judge seemed to agree. “President Trump’s own comments suggest that he intended the revocation of Plaintiffs’ hard passes to alter their reporting on him, bolstering the case that his action here is sufficient to deter a reporter of ordinary firmness from reporting in the same way she had before,” he wrote.

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