Federal judge orders White House to explain why reporters remain barred after his ruling restoring access

Journalists from CNN, MS NOW and Politico were turned away from the White House on Thursday morning, hours after a federal judge ordered the Trump administration to immediately restore the press credentials it had revoked from the three news organizations. The judge has given the administration until 12:30 p.m. Thursday to explain itself.

In a Thursday morning court filing, the outlets said a Secret Service agent confiscated hard passes from their journalists. CNN White House reporter Betsy Klein, whose pass had been taken Saturday, asked for it back and was refused entry again, their lawyers wrote. They accused administration officials of repeatedly violating the order and asked the judge for an immediate hearing.

The White House did not immediately respond to The Advocate’s request for comment on why it had not restored the credentials or why journalists were denied entry after the order took effect.

MS NOW White House correspondent Laura Barrón-López said a Secret Service agent told her Thursday that her credential still scanned as disabled before confiscating it. She said she could not tell whether the refusal reflected deliberate defiance or a delay in updating the system. CNN reported that Klein and a photojournalist were denied entry, though one of its producers got inside with a pass.

The ban has already moved White House reporting beyond the complex’s gates. MS NOW White House correspondent Vaughn Hillyard has reported from the corner of 17th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue NW since his network was barred from the premises. Roll Call photographed him broadcasting from that corner Monday.

Related: President Donald Trump bans CNN, MS Now, and Politico from White House

Judge finds the outlets likely to prevail on due process

U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly’s temporary restraining order, issued early Thursday, directs White House officials and those acting with them to “immediately return, reinstate, and restore” the hard passes revoked from employees of CNN, MS NOW and Politico. The order lasts 14 days while the lawsuit proceeds. Kelly declined the administration’s request to delay its effective date.

Trump announced on September 18 that he was banning the outlets from the White House, accusing them of reporting “FAKE NEWS.” Journalists were denied entry the next day. The three organizations sued Monday, arguing that Trump retaliated against coverage he disliked and that revoking their credentials violated their constitutional right to due process.

Kelly found that the plaintiffs had met the demanding standard for temporary relief because they were likely to succeed at least on their Fifth Amendment due process claim. Appeals court precedent requires the White House to give a reporter notice and an opportunity to respond before revoking an issued hard pass, he wrote. It also requires sufficiently clear standards identifying conduct that could lead to a revocation. The administration did not dispute that the journalists received no notice or opportunity to be heard before losing their credentials.

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The judge did not decide the outlets’ separate First Amendment claim that the ban punished them for their reporting. His order temporarily restores access while that broader case continues.

Justice Department lawyers argued that the outlets’ reporting endangered national security. They also cited alleged violations of standards of professionalism and decorum, pointing to letters sent to the organizations after the ban that offered them an opportunity to respond. Kelly found the stated standard too vague and the later chance to respond insufficient under the circumstances. Some of the stories the administration identified were months or years old, he wrote, and he described them as “routine.”

Kelly also found little evidence supporting the government’s national security rationale. The administration submitted no declaration explaining how any of the cited stories damaged national security or how allowing the journalists back into the White House during the lawsuit would endanger it, he wrote. In most cases, the reporters who wrote those stories did not hold White House hard passes. Trump’s announcement, Kelly noted, had focused on what he considered negative or untruthful coverage rather than national security.

Related: Networks stop TV pool coverage of Donald Trump as banned outlets sue over censorship

Outlets seek an immediate hearing

The outlets’ lawyers said they contacted government attorneys Thursday morning to request a joint call with the court but had received no response when they filed their notice. An earlier version of their hearing request stressed that CNN was scheduled to provide television pool coverage of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s White House visit Thursday evening. A corrected filing specified that a Secret Service agent confiscated passes from journalists at all three outlets.

The exclusion has affected coverage beyond the banned organizations. After CNN was removed from an earlier television pool assignment, ABC, CBS, CNN, Fox News and NBC suspended their shared pool coverage. Those rotating crews provide footage of presidential events to other news organizations and the public. The print pool — a separate group of journalists — has continued to cover Trump’s activities despite the TV networks’ boycott.

Seth Stern, chief of advocacy at the Freedom of the Press Foundation, called Thursday for officials who continue denying access in violation of the order to be held in contempt. “Court orders are just paper unless they’re enforced,” he said in a statement to The Advocate. Stern also urged sanctions against Justice Department lawyers over what he characterized as frivolous national security arguments.