A federal judge, appointed by President Trump, ordered the administration to reinstate press credentials for Jim Acosta, CNN’s chief White House correspondent.
U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly granted CNN’s request to restore the press pass for Acosta, giving him regular access to the White House grounds to cover events and press conferences.
Kelly said he has not determined if the First Amendment was violated in this case.
Instead, he said Acosta and his employer have shown they are likely to succeed in their argument that their Fifth Amendment rights to due process were violated by the White House.
Fox News, NBC News, The Associated Press, Bloomberg, Gannett, The New York Times, Politico, USA Today, The Washington Post and other outlets supported CNN’s lawsuit
After the ruling the White House said it will abide by the order, but insisted “there must be decorum at the White House.”
Under the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals decision in Sherrill v. Knight, Kelly said the government must provide Acosta due process if it is going to revoke his press pass.
In that 1977 ruling, the court said journalists must at least be given notice and a chance to rebut the government’s decision to revoke their credentials.
In court Friday, Kelly said the government couldn’t even tell him who made the decision to revoke the pass. He said Trump’s comments to Acosta at the press conference could not have put Acosta on notice that his pass would be revoked.
In a brief statement to the press outside the courthouse, Acosta thanked Kelly for his ruling.
“I want to thank all of my colleagues in the press who supported us this week and I want to thank the judge for the decision he made today,” he said. “Let’s go back to work.”
The White House revoked Acosta’s pass last week after a contentious exchange with Trump during a televised press conference the day after the midterm elections.
Friday’s ruling was hailed by free speech advocates as a victory for journalism.
“Today’s decision reaffirms that no one, not even the president, is above the law,” the American Civil Liberties Union said in a statement.
For Trump and his supporters, penalizing Acosta was a surefire crowd-pleaser.
The president’s political team released a fund-raising email touting CNN’s lawsuit as evidence that the news media was intent on hurting the administration.