The Trump administration on Friday insisted that it has a right to ban journalists from three national news organizations from accessing the White House as a federal judge weighs whether to restore access to the journalists indefinitely while the legal battle continues.

In a new court filing, the Department of Justice argued against a court order that would reverse President Donald Trump’s press ban and restore access to MS NOW, CNN and Politico. The government has maintained that the president’s ban is lawful.

The administration maintained that its actions are lawful under the First Amendment, and are not retaliatory or viewpoint discrimination.

They also alleged that due process was given, pointing to the letters the White House sent to the news organizations after the ban went into effect. Those letters purported to give the news organizations the opportunity to respond to the expulsion.

“Plaintiffs declined to submit any response, request any extension, or otherwise defend their conduct. Accordingly, at 5:00pm last Friday, the President’s preliminary decision to revoke Plaintiffs’ continued access to the White House, though temporarily enjoined from continuing in effect, became final,” they wrote in the filing.

The government’s attorneys said the news organizations’ main arguments are flawed. “All flow from the mistaken conclusion that there is a special property or legal interest in access to the White House,” they wrote. “There is not.”

Kelly will hear arguments on  the media organizations’ request for a longer-term block on the administration’s access ban on Thursday– the same day his current order is set to expire. But he indicated he intends to hear arguments and “rule expeditiously.” 

On Monday, lawyers representing the three affected news organizations asked U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly to block Trump’s ban while litigation continues. If granted, that order would extend the emergency relief Kelly handed down last week when he blocked the ban for two weeks.

Lawyers for the three news organizations again argued the ban violated both the First Amendment and the due process clause of the Fifth Amendment. They said without longer-term relief, the Trump administration would revive the ban.

“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. “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.” 

It took the White House nearly 12 hours to reinstate the journalists’ press credentials after Kelly issued his ruling. The White House has also continued to block CNN from performing its duties as part of the five-network television pool that shares resources to broadcast coverage of the president. 

Kelly has not yet addressed the news organizations’ First Amendment claims. When he blocked the ban last week, he only ruled on due process grounds. He found the Trump administration had not given the journalists appropriate due process before enacting the ban and confiscating press credentials. 

“The record is bereft of any relevant ‘formally articulated standards’ in place before any of the conduct for which the Defendants revoked their hard passes,” Kelly wrote. “One standard Defendants appear to offer – reflected in letters they sent to plaintiffs on September 22, 2026, identifying their objectionable reporting– is so vague it hardly does the trick.”

“Moreover, Defendants renewed Plaintiff Betsy Klein’s hard pass several months after she published some of the identified reporting, undercutting any argument that she or her employer, for example, had the requisite notice that the conduct at issue violated a relevant standard,” Kelly added. 

Kelly issued a similar ruling in 2018 when he oversaw a legal challenge after the White House revoked then-CNN correspondent Jim Acosta’s credentials. Kelly found the White House had not given Acosta due process and ordered the Trump administration to restore the credential. Acosta chose to voluntarily dismiss the case before Kelly had the opportunity to address the First Amendment claims.

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.  

The First Amendment issues in this case remain unsettled, as the news organizations continue to argue Trump’s ban was both retaliatory and blatant viewpoint discrimination. 

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