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Federal judge orders White House must restore press passes to 3 banned news outlets

11 hours 43 minutes ago
WASHINGTON — U.S. District Court Judge Timothy Kelly early Thursday issued an order that temporarily blocks President Donald Trump’s ban of three news organizations from the White House. Kelly, in the eight-page order, said that the White House must “immediately return, reinstate, and restore the White House ‘hard pass’ press credentials held by employees of […]
Jane Norman

White House defies judge who smacked down media ban

11 hours 56 minutes ago

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

New York, Sept. 24, 2026 — Hours after Judge Timothy Kelly of the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., delivered a resounding defeat to President Trump early this morning, restraining his administration from barring CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House and holding that the ban is likely unconstitutional, the administration defied the order by continuing to deny access to the networks.

Kelly held that the press met the “high bar” to show that the ban likely violated the Fifth Amendment’s protections for due process. He also rejected the administration’s argument that “national security” concerns justified the ban, noting that the news stories the administration pointed to are “routine” and that there is no precedent for applying laws prohibiting disclosure of classified information to reporters.

But after Kelly’s ruling and in spite of the temporary restraining order entered by the court, Politico, CNN, and MSNOW reported today that some of their reporters were denied access to the White House and some also had their press credentials confiscated.

The following can be attributed to Freedom of the Press Foundation (FPF) Chief of Advocacy Seth Stern:

“The administration was rightly given the back of the hand by Judge Kelly for claiming routine reports harm ‘national security,’ but court orders are just paper unless they’re enforced. Enough is enough. Government officials who continue to deny journalists’ access to the White House in defiance of Kelly’s order should be held in contempt.

“And it’s long past time for judges to start aggressively sanctioning DOJ lawyers when they make frivolous national security arguments to turn Trump’s petty grievances against the press into government policy. That way, we won’t get to the point where Secret Service agents are defying court orders to carry out the president’s authoritarian whims.

“The Pentagon Papers case famously rejected a prior restraint aimed at specific documents the government claimed posed national security risks, and Trump himself lost two cases in which he tried to similarly ban reporters in his first term. Anyone who argues ‘national security’ are magic words justifying banning three entire news outlets from the White House should be not just laughed out of court but sanctioned.

“Trump’s own announcement of the ban admitted it was about coverage he didn’t like. The reports the government cited are years old and one was even based on a briefing from the vice president. Trump beats up on the free press not because of national security but because he’s terrified for the public to see what he and his administration are up to in the people’s house behind closed doors, whether it’s letting classified tech go missing or almost starting a war based on an AI hallucination.

“Those are the stories you won’t see on Trump TV. They bolster national security by exposing real threats to the homeland — government malfeasance and incompetence. Everyone involved in this multipronged and apparently ongoing attack on the Constitution must be held accountable.”

Read Judge Kelly’s full order here.

Please contact us if you would like further comment.

Freedom of the Press Foundation

Missouri Medicaid enrollee challenges Trump rule on work requirement exemptions

13 hours 26 minutes ago
Emily Byrd has lost Medicaid coverage twice due to paperwork problems.  Both times, Byrd, of Kansas City, submitted documents requested by the Missouri Department of Social Services. But duplicate letters, late notices and “confusing, inconsistent information” made it difficult for Byrd to regain coverage — the second time forcing them to reapply. The 25-year-old, who […]
Steph Quinn

Live Now: Archbishop Fulton Sheen Beatification Mass

13 hours 27 minutes ago
ST. LOUIS - It will be a historic day in St. Louis as Archbishop Fulton Sheen is beatified during a service Thursday afternoon. The beatification service for Archbishop Sheen will take place at 2 p.m. at The Dome at America's Center. An estimated 50,000 people are expected to attend the ticketed event, with doors opening [...]
Nick Gladney

1 dead in multi-vehicle crash on I-270 in Glen Carbon

14 hours 2 minutes ago
MADISON COUNTY, Ill. - A portion of Interstate 270 is closed Thursday morning after a person was killed in an multi-vehicle crash in Glen Carbon. According to the Illinois State Police (ISP), the crash occurred shortly before 5 a.m. on westbound I-270 east of IL-157. The crash involved four vehicles. All westbound lanes on I-270 [...]
Nick Gladney

Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley raises privacy alarms over nationwide AI camera network

14 hours 25 minutes ago
WASHINGTON — A vast and growing network of artificial intelligence-driven Flock cameras could violate constitutional privacy rights, U.S. senators on a Judiciary Committee subcommittee said during a Wednesday hearing. GOP Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri, the chair of the Crime and Counterterrorism Subcommittee, said the point of the hearing was to find out “what is […]
Ariana Figueroa

Local taxpayers kept their promise. Missouri must keep its, too.

14 hours 41 minutes ago
For years, I watched young families chase a familiar version of the American dream: land the right job, save enough money for a down payment, and find a home in a community where they could raise their children safely. One with a reasonable commute, maybe a park nearby and enough room in the backyard to […]
Chris Gaines