Federal Judge Orders White House To Temporarily Restore Press Access To Jim Acosta

[A Theist]

On Friday, a Federal Judge ruled in favor of CNN's Jim Acosta that the White House temporarily restore restore his press access. 

A federal judge on Friday ruled in favor of CNN and reporter Jim Acosta in a dispute with President Trump, ordering the White House to temporarily restore the press credentials that the Trump administration had taken away from Acosta last week.

In a victory for the cable network and for press access generally, Judge Timothy J. Kelly granted CNN’s motion for a temporary restraining order that will prevent the administration from keeping Acosta off the White House’s grounds.


The White House revoked the reporter’s press pass last week after a heated exchange between him and President Trump and a brief altercation with a press aide at a news conference. Acosta, CNN’s chief White House correspondent, is the first reporter with a so-called hard pass to be banned.

CNN sued President Trump and other White House officials on Tuesday over the revocation. Kelly’s ruling was the first legal skirmish in that lawsuit. It has the immediate effect of sending Acosta back to the White House, pending further arguments and a possible trial. The litigation is in its early stages, and a trial could be months in the future.
Hours after the judge’s decision, Acosta resumed his post at the White House.

Hours after the judge’s decision, Acosta resumed his post at the White House.

Kelly, whom Trump appointed to the federal bench last year, handed down his ruling two days after the network and government lawyers argued over whether the president had the power to revoke a reporter’s access. In explaining his decision, Kelly said he agreed with the government’s argument that there was no First Amendment right to come onto the White House grounds. But, he said, once the White House opened up the grounds to reporters, the First Amendment applied.
His ruling, however, primarily emphasized evidence indicating that the White House’s decision to boot Acosta had violated the Fifth Amendment, which guarantees due process in government actions. He said the White House’s decision-making was “so shrouded in mystery that the government could not tell me . . . who made the decision.” The White House’s later written arguments for banning Acosta were belated and weren’t sufficient to satisfy due process, Kelly said.



Said Trump, “We want total freedom of the press...But you have to act with respect when you’re at the White House, and when I see the way some of my people get treated at news conferences, it’s terrible. So we’re setting up a certain standard, which is what the court is requesting...We always have the option of leaving...and the other media and press in the room won’t be happy.”

So where do we draw the line between freedom of the press and rude disorderly grandstanding by reporters who disrupt White House Press Briefings? 

Does a part of the Judiciary Branch have the authority to tell the Executive Branch how to run its own Press Briefings?

And shouldn't every White House Administration set ground rules for conduct and order and how their own Press Briefings will be conducted? 

Thoughts?

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/...spartandhp