U.S. District Court Judge Rudolph Contreras ordered the White House on Tuesday to immediately give Playboy correspondent Brian Karem his press pass back after it was revoked for 30 days.
Karem sued the White House in August “to enjoin the ongoing violation of his First and Fifth Amendment rights.”
“Meanwhile, Karem has shown that even the temporary suspension of his pass inflicts irreparable harm on his First Amendment rights. The Court therefore grants Karem’s motion for a preliminary injunction and orders that his hard pass be restored while this lawsuit is ongoing,” Contreras said.
“For the foregoing reasons, Karem’s motion for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction is granted. Defendants are ordered to restore Karem’s hard pass. An order consistent with this Memorandum Opinion is separately and contemporaneously issued,” he concluded.
“Free Speech and Due process win,” Karem tweeted in response to the news.
Thank you to @BoutrousTed and his fantastic team. Free Speech and Due process win!
— Brian J. Karem (@BrianKarem) September 3, 2019
The White House revoked Karem’s pass after getting into a confrontation with guests in the Rose Garden after attending a social media summit. Former White House staffer Sebastian Gorka got into Karem’s face, where the two of them exchanged a short verbal spat.
In a video leading up to the exchange, Karem said the audience was a “group of people that are eager for demonic possession.” When Gorka shouted back at Karem, he said, “We can go outside and have a long conversation.”
“You’re a punk! You’re not a journalist! You’re a punk!” Gorka shouted at Karem, who is also a CNN political analyst. After Gorka left, an attendee can be heard telling Karem that Gorka would beat his “punk ass” in a fight.
After the #SocialMediaSummit @realDonaldTrump invited the conservative influencers to the Rose Garden for his press conf
We got the nice seats & I guess “journalist” @BrianKarem was sad
He tried to pick a fight w/ @SebGorka & then thought betterMy $$$ was on Seb as I note pic.twitter.com/yXfJfOKaZT
— Jim Hanson (@Uncle_Jimbo) July 11, 2019
In a similar situation, the White House was forced to give CNN reporter Jim Acosta’s “hard pass” back to him after the network demonstrated his Fifth Amendment right to due process had been violated by not granting him a process to appeal to the decision to suspend his pass.
Acosta’s pass was suspended following a heated exchange with President Trump during a press conference, in which Acosta refused to give up the microphone after being told it was no longer his turn to speak.
Read the court decision below:
