US judge blocks Trump’s White House ban on CNN, MS NOW, and Politico

Trump-nominated judge rules that outlets are likely to succeed in claim they were denied due process.Published On 24 Sep 2026A United States judge has blocked President Donald Trump’s ban on three news outlets from the White House, ordering his administration to immediately restore their access pending a later court hearing.Issuing a temporary restraining order early on Thursday, US District Judge Timothy J Kelly said CNN, MS NOW and Politico were likely to prevail in their legal challenge to Trump’s ban on several grounds, including that it violated their due process rights.Recommended Stories list of 4 itemslist 1 of 4Gaza watches Israel’s elections with fear and antipathylist 2 of 4Monarchy-aligned PAM leads in Morocco election provisional resultslist 3 of 4UN funding cuts hit refugees at Cox’s Bazar settlementlist 4 of 4China vs US: Who is winning the AI race, in four chartsend of listKelly said the outlets had made a convincing case that they were stripped of their credentials without due process and were likely to suffer “irreparable harm” in the absence of the temporary order.Kelly, who was nominated by Trump during his first term in 2017, also found there was a public interest in blocking the ban “given the importance of the free press”.Rejecting the Trump administration’s claim that the outlets had been barred to protect national security, Kelly said the government’s argument lacked “factual support”.“Defendants offer no declarations or other support – classified or unclassified – explaining how any of the reporting they identified in their letters to Plaintiffs damaged the national security,” Kelly said in the ruling.Kelly ruled that the Trump administration should “immediately return, reinstate, and restore” the outlets’ access to the White House.Kelly imposed the injunction for 14 days, pending further proceedings.Theodore Boutrous, the lawyer representing the outlets, welcomed the ruling as a vindication of the “freedom of the press, due process and the rule of law”.