U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly said he is delaying a decision in CNN’s lawsuit against the White House until Thursday while he considers the merits of both sides.
CNN argued in court Wednesday that the White House had discriminated against CNN correspondent Jim Acosta by suspending his hard pass, which allows him access to the White House grounds for reporting.
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The Justice Department, representing the White House, rebutted the claim, saying that President Trump has complete discretion in which journalists are credentialed to be on the White House premise.
Theodore Boutrous, the lead lawyer for CNN, had asked the court for a preliminary decision that would force the White House to give Acosta his pass back until they can reconvene for a fuller ruling on whether the White House had violated the law.
Much of CNN’s case rested on a 1977 federal court case, Sherrill v. Knight, which ruled the Secret Service is required to have an official process for granting hard passes to reporters and that reporters who have their passes denied or revoked have to be given a reason why and a chance to appeal.
The Justice Department’s lead counsel, James Burnham, argued that the ruling merely granted journalists more “process,” but did not give reporters the right to have access to the White House.
Burnham said that regardless of any more extended process, the final decision rests with the president and his discretion as to who is allowed on the White House grounds, which functions as both his private home and office.
Though White House press secretary Sarah Sanders had previously said the reason Acosta’s pass was revoked because he had put his “hands on” an intern who tried to take his microphone away at a press conference last week, Burnham said that the defense was not relying on that argument in court.
Boutrous said that the White House’s action caused “irreparable harm” to Acosta and CNN by hindering their news-gathering capabilities. He also said that the White House’s actions would cause a “chilling effect” on the news media and its First Amendment rights.
Kelly repeatedly asked Boutrous if he saw nothing unique about Acosta’s performance at the press conference last week and noted that though Trump has long criticized CNN in general, no one else at the network, nor at other news outlets, had seen their passes revoked.
Kelly said he would take the case “under advisement” and would render his decision at 3 p.m. on Thursday.
CNN filed its lawsuit on Tuesday, alleging that the White House violated the First Amendment when it suspended Acosta’s hard press pass.
“This morning, CNN filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration in DC District Court,” CNN’s top executive, Jeff Zucker, had said in a statement. “The White House has violated CNN and Jim Acosta’s First Amendment rights of freedom of the press and Fifth Amendment rights to due process. We are demanding the immediate return of Jim’s White House credential.”
The lawsuit names a Secret Service agent “John Doe” as a defendant for allegedly having blocked Acosta’s access to the White House grounds.
The White House said last week that it was indefinitely suspending Acosta’s credentials after a heated exchange between him and Trump at a press conference. After Acosta was called on to ask a question, Trump attempted to move on to another reporter, but Acosta initially refused to relinquish the microphone to a White House intern.
