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The Justice Department is asking a federal judge to uphold President Donald Trump’s decision to bar CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House, arguing that the president has broad authority to control press access and that the outlets’ reporting created national security concerns.
In a late Tuesday court filing, DOJ attorneys urged the court to reject the news organizations’ request to immediately restore their White House credentials, arguing that “access to the White House is a privilege—not a right.”
The filing marks a significant escalation of the administration’s defense. Rather than arguing only that the White House can regulate access to a limited government facility, the Justice Department is asking the court to accept a broad view of presidential authority to exclude specific news organizations while citing the content of their reporting as part of the justification.
The three outlets sued the Trump administration Monday, arguing that their exclusion violated the First Amendment and their Fifth Amendment due process rights. A federal judge is scheduled to hear their request for a temporary restraining order Wednesday.
DOJ ties ban to news coverage
The administration’s court filing says the outlets failed to meet what the White House considers minimum standards of “professionalism and decorum,” including by publishing what officials characterize as sensitive or classified information.
The White House sent CNN, MS NOW and Politico letters Tuesday identifying what it described as a “non-exhaustive list” of reporting incidents that allegedly threatened national security or contained false information.
The stories cited by the administration include reporting about construction involving a White House bunker, funding for Trump’s planned ballroom, ammunition stockpiles affected by the Iran war and U.S. sanctions against Russia.
The administration has not merely cited logistical or security restrictions as the basis for the exclusions. Trump announced the ban Friday in a Truth Social post accusing the three organizations of publishing “FAKE NEWS” and threatening that additional outlets could be targeted.
Reporters for all three organizations subsequently had their White House access credentials deactivated or confiscated.
The outlets have until 5 p.m. Friday to contest the White House’s initial decision, according to the letters attached to the DOJ filing.
News organizations challenge the decision
CNN, MS NOW and Politico argue that the government cannot punish them by restricting access because of what they report.
Their lawsuit says the administration revoked journalists’ credentials without adequate notice or process and violated constitutional protections for newsgathering and speech.
The case was assigned to U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly, a Trump appointee who ruled against the administration in 2018 when the White House attempted to revoke CNN reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials.
That case involved a different set of circumstances, but it established a significant precedent concerning the government’s ability to restrict a White House correspondent’s access without adequate procedural protections.
The Supreme Court question looming over the case
At the center of the dispute is a difficult line between the government’s authority to control access to restricted government facilities and the First Amendment’s protection against government retaliation based on press coverage.
The White House maintains that journalists have no constitutional entitlement to enter every area of the White House complex.
The news organizations argue that the administration crossed a constitutional line by selectively removing their access after objecting to their reporting.
The distinction could become particularly important because the administration’s own letters identify specific news stories as part of the reason for the exclusions.
First Amendment advocates and the White House Correspondents’ Association have criticized the ban, arguing that allowing the government to determine which outlets receive access based on their coverage could give presidents a powerful mechanism for influencing the press corps.
Trump signals he may reverse ban if court rules against him
Trump on Tuesday said he would “probably” allow the three organizations back into the White House if a court ruled against his administration.
But later that day, during Trump’s appearance at the United Nations in New York, he confronted CNN reporter Kaitlan Collins and questioned why she was covering him after the network had been barred from the White House.
Collins responded that CNN had not stopped covering Trump and that the network remained credentialed at the United Nations.
The exchange underscored the unusual nature of the dispute: Although the outlets have been excluded from the White House, they continue to cover the president elsewhere.
White House media pool disrupted
The ban has also disrupted the decades-old White House television press pool.
CNN had been scheduled to provide pool coverage, in which one network supplies video, audio and other material to a larger group of news organizations when space or logistics prevent every outlet from covering an event independently.
After CNN was removed from the pool, other major television networks suspended their participation rather than replace it. The result has included presidential events with limited or missing television pool coverage.
Print and radio pools remain operational, while individual television networks continue covering events open to the broader press corps.
The White House has also launched a 24-hour streaming operation known as “Trump TV,” providing administration-produced coverage of the president and his activities.
The immediate legal question is whether the White House can exclude the three outlets while the lawsuit proceeds. The broader issue is whether the administration can use control over presidential access to penalize or restrict news organizations whose reporting it considers false, objectionable or a national security threat.
Wednesday’s hearing is expected to be the first major test of that question in the current dispute.
