Overnight, Trump’s justification for banning reporters was shot down by a Trump-appointed federal judge who rejected the DOJ’s claim that reporters were banned from CNN, Politico, and MS NOW for national security reasons.
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Judge Kelly wrote in his ruling:
But the circumstances here are not so “extraordinary” as to permit deviation from the “essential principle of due process” that a deprivation of liberty “be preceded by notice and opportunity for hearing.” Cleveland Bd. of Educ., 470 U.S. at 542 (emphasis added). Zevallos holds that post-deprivation due process may suffice in unusual situations, such as when “providing notice before blocking the assets of international narcotics traffickers would create a substantial risk of asset flight.” 793 F.3d at 116.
But nothing in the record suggests the need for such urgency here. Indeed, some of the reporting identified by Defendants in the letters to Plaintiffs stretches back months or years. See ECF Nos. 16-1, 16-2, 16-3. The sorts of stories Defendants identify in the letters to Plaintiffs are routine. And as discussed further below, the Court is skeptical—at least on this record—that Defendants’ interest in safeguarding national security is the actual motivation for, or is even advanced by, the revocation of Plaintiffs’ hard passes.
Finally, even if the circumstances here allowed for post-deprivation process, Defendants are still left with the problem that, before the reporting at issue, Plaintiffs still did not “receive fair notice” of either the “conduct” that would lead to a sanction or of “the magnitude of the sanction that the White House might impose.” Karem, 960 F.3d at 665 (cleaned up).
In other words, Trump can’t take away press access, deny the reporters due process, and then claim national security as a justification for doing whatever he wants.
The reporters from the three outlets show up at the White House for work and have their credentials confiscated.
It is clear that the White House is throwing a fit over losing in court and playing games, but the only person this hurts is Donald Trump.
