A federal judge on Tuesday night indefinitely restored access to the White House for three national news organizations that were banned by President Donald Trump in a victory for freedom of the press.

U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly sided with MS NOW, CNN and Politico for now in ruling that the news organizations cannot be denied access to the White House by the Trump administration. Kelly found Trump’s ban likely violated both the due process clause of the Fifth Amendment and the First Amendment.

This is the first time Kelly has addressed the First Amendment issues, finding Trump’s ban was both retaliatory and viewpoint discrimination.

“The record is clear that President Trump made the decision at issue,” Kelly wrote. “And his announcement of the ban and later remarks explaining the reason for it make this a straightforward conclusion: President Trump likely banned Plaintiffs from the White House because he believes that their reporting is generally inaccurate and biased against him.”

Kelly also rejected the Trump administration’s national security argument for the ban. “First, there is no evidence in the record that President Trump made the decision to revoke Plaintiffs’ hard passes on national security grounds from the get-go, nor at any time has he directly stated that national security was the reason for his decision,” he wrote.

However, Kelly included one caveat in his ruling: “Still, no one should interpret the Court’s decision to suggest that President Trump’s concerns about accuracy and fairness in the media’s reporting are unfounded, or that the government is powerless when its true aim is to protect national security when classified information is unlawfully disclosed.”

Ted Boutrous, a lawyer representing the three news outlets, applauded the ruling.

“We are grateful that the Court ruled in favor of our clients CNN, MS NOW and POLITICO and secured access to the White House for these news media organizations and their journalists,” he wrote in a statement.

“When the President issued his ‘ban on the free press,’ he blatantly and explicitly violated due process and the First Amendment,” Boutrous continued. “Since then, the President has repeatedly, candidly, and consistently admitted in public that he banned our clients from the White House to punish reporting he doesn’t like and to try to force journalists to cover him in ways he prefers.”

MS NOW has reached out to the White House and Justice Department for comment but did not immediately receive a response.

The ruling comes after Kelly heard arguments Thursday over the ban’s lawfulness. During the hearing, Kelly indicated he was bound by judicial precedent, which has held the White House cannot arbitrarily revoke media credentials without due process.

This is the second time Kelly has blocked Trump’s ban. In September, he granted an emergency request to restore White House access for the news organizations for two weeks. That ruling was based solely on due process grounds. He later extended that ruling, which restored credentials for MS NOW, CNN and Politico, for another two business days while he mulled longer-term relief.

The three banned news organizations had asked Kelly to extend his ruling indefinitely, arguing that absent his intervention, the Trump administration would again block the journalists’ access.

“The White House’s words and actions leave little doubt that it will immediately reinstate a complete ban of CNN, MS NOW, and POLITICO if allowed the opportunity,” lawyers for the news organizations wrote ahead of the hearing. “Because the ban is an unlawful assault on the most fundamental First Amendment freedoms and will inflict irreparable harm on Plaintiffs and the public if not restrained.”

During Thursday’s hearing, Ted Boutrous Jr., a lawyer representing the news organizations, argued Trump’s ban violates the First Amendment. He called the ban “textbook retaliation” and said Trump’s overarching complaint is “you’re not saying nice things about me.”

“He doesn’t like the reporting,” Boutrous said. “He doesn’t want these reporters in the White House complex reporting the news.”

The government has argued the ban is, in part, based on national security concerns.

Kelly pushed back on that argument, pointing to a disconnect between the government’s argument in the courtroom and the president’s public statements.

“The decision-maker has said, I’m taking this action because of X and Y and now the government is actually saying, no, it’s actually because of Z,” Kelly said, “That’s an uphill climb.”

While the legal battle over access to the White House grounds continues, the Trump administration has sought other ways to restrict access for the news organizations affected by the ban. The White House has erratically blocked both CNN and Politico from fulfilling their scheduled pool duties, which allow coverage of the president at all times. MS NOW has not been scheduled for pool duty since the ban has gone into effect.

The affected news outlets allege Trump’s ban violates the First Amendment because it is retaliatory and viewpoint discrimination for coverage the president doesn’t like. They also argue it violates the due process clause of the Fifth Amendment because the White House did not provide adequate notice with clear standards before implementing the ban.

“[Trump’s] statements also make clear he implemented the ban to coerce more favorable coverage from CNN, MS NOW, and Politico, and to deter other journalists and news organizations from newsgathering and reporting that the President might view as negative,” lawyers for the news organizations wrote ahead of the hearing. “And his administration has continued to retaliate against Plaintiffs even after the temporary restraining order, only underscoring Defendants’ motive is to punish and chill journalism they dislike.”

The Trump administration pushed back on those arguments, alleging the White House gave the journalists due process when it sent letters to the news organizations explaining the ban was motivated by national security concerns based on their reporting.

“We did provide a process and they chose not to participate,” Michael Velchik, the sole lawyer representing the government, argued on Thursday.

Those letters were sent three days after the White House revoked press credentials from multiple journalists from MS NOW, CNN and Politico, and one day after the news organizations filed the lawsuit.

Last month, Kelly blocked the ban temporarily, ruling solely on due process grounds. He found the Trump administration had not given news organizations adequate due process before enacting the ban.

Kelly’s rulings on due process grounds was unsurprising because it was bound by precedent, which he himself had noted during the hearing. Circuit court precedent says the White House may not arbitrarily deny a journalist a press credential because press access to the White House is protected by the First Amendment and may not be revoked without due process.

Coverage of Trump’s activities has been affected despite Kelly’s initial ruling because the administration continues to restrict who can participate in the media pool.

The White House press pool was formed as part of a long-standing agreement between the White House and news organizations in which a small group of journalists agree to cover the president — often traveling with him — on behalf of the entire press corps. On days the White House has barred CNN or Politico from serving in the pool, other news outlets have declined to fill in for them in solidarity with the banned outlets.

Without the pool — particularly CNN’s cameras — several of Trump’s recent events have not been covered in the usual way. Lawyers for MS NOW, CNN and Politico argue restrictions on the pool not only affect the media organization in question but impact coverage of the president for the public.

The issue of pool restrictions has arisen in recent court filings, but it is not directly before Kelly at this point. The current legal battle is focused primarily on access to the White House itself as it existed before Trump’s ban. The lawsuit does not directly address pool access, but lawyers for the news organizations have made the point that journalists need White House credentials to participate in the pool.

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From MS Now.