WASHINGTON — Seventy-eight journalists keep their White House hard passes for now, after a federal judge found the president likely took them away because he disliked what they wrote.
Judge Timothy Kelly issued a preliminary injunction on Tuesday ordering that the administration “shall not execute, implement or enforce the September 18, 2026 decision to revoke” the passes held by employees of CNN, MS NOW and Politico, TRT World reported. The order lasts while the outlets’ lawsuit proceeds.
It is the first ruling to reach the First Amendment. Kelly’s temporary order on September 24, which the White House ignored for six hours before complying, rested on due process alone.
Kelly wrote that Trump cited national security only after the passes had already been revoked, and that the ban likely violated the reporters’ First and Fifth Amendment rights. He also wrote that Trump likely banned the outlets because he views their reporting as inaccurate and biased, NBC News reported.
The relief has a gap. The order restores access to the White House complex but does not require access to the Oval Office or Air Force One, where the administration has blocked reporters from CNN and Politico.
Trump announced the ban on September 18 and the outlets sued three days later, TRT World reported. The White House did not immediately comment on the ruling, and Trump has said he will appeal.
The fight sits beside a second one. The Justice Department is reportedly investigating five television networks for possible antitrust violations after they briefly suspended pool coverage of Trump in protest of the ban.
The White House’s release on Katie Zacharia’s first briefing as press secretary, held in the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room the same day, spoke of “broader media access” and did not mention the ban or the three outlets.
Nothing in Kelly’s order touches the Oval Office, where who gets in is still the president’s call.
