Three news organizations barred from the White House grounds asked a federal court Monday to stop the Trump administration from enforcing the ban while their lawsuit is pending, saying officials have continued to apply the restrictions inconsistently despite a judge’s temporary order.
Lawyers for CNN, MS NOW and Politico said the White House continued restricting access, including preventing CNN from carrying out its scheduled role in the White House television news pool over the weekend.
In a 42-page filing, the lawyers said the administration could restore the full ban on the three outlets if the court does not intervene. They argued that the restrictions violate First Amendment protections and could cause lasting harm to the news organizations and the public.
The outlets also called Trump’s action a violation of press freedom and due process.
Theodore J. Boutrous Jr., lead attorney for the plaintiffs, said the administration’s actions showed that the ban was aimed at punishing coverage the president dislikes.
The filing came a day after Attorney General Todd Blanche defended the administration’s position that Trump was justified in restricting the outlets. Speaking to ABC, Blanche said access to the White House was a privilege rather than a right.
The dispute has increasingly centered on the White House television pool, made up of CNN, ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox News. After CNN was removed from the rotation, the other networks declined to provide replacement coverage in solidarity.
CNN was allowed to cover Trump’s meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the National Archives on Friday. However, the White House barred CNN from Air Force One on Saturday, preventing the network from covering Trump’s trip to a college football game in Tennessee.
Blanche defended the decision, saying the president has the right to determine who flies on his plane. He also accused some media outlets of failing to report accurate information and said misinformation could create a national security concern.
U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly questioned that argument in a ruling last week that temporarily blocked the White House ban. Kelly said he was skeptical that national security was the actual reason for removing the outlets’ access.
The ruling did not specifically address the television pool rotation, although Boutrous has argued that it covers pool access as well.
The five networks are now handling the dispute on a case-by-case basis, according to a person familiar with the pool’s operation who spoke on condition of anonymity because discussions are ongoing.
Fox covered a pool event Sunday, while NBC covered Trump in the Oval Office Monday. CNN is not scheduled for pool duty again until at least Thursday.
If CNN is again barred from an assignment, the networks are expected to decide jointly whether to provide replacement coverage or suspend coverage, depending on the importance of the event.
Legal experts said the networks face difficult choices between defending press access and continuing to provide news to their audiences.
David A. Schulz, director of Yale Law School’s Media Freedom and Information Access Clinic, said there were few easy options for the networks.
RonNell Andersen Jones, a law professor at the University of Utah, said refusing to cover major government events could also raise concerns about the media’s responsibility to inform the public.
The Trump administration has shown no clear sign of changing its position.
“When it comes to the White House, it is the people’s house,” Blanche said. “It is a privilege, and not a right, to be there.”