The news organization plans to present its arguments to a U.S. district judge Wednesday afternoon.
Published September 23, 2026
President Donald Trump’s administration has defended his decision to ban CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House grounds, arguing in a court filing that the president has broad authority to decide which journalists have access to the facility and that the outlets’ reporting raised national security concerns.
The dispute is scheduled to be heard by a federal judge in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday. Three news organizations sued the Trump administration on Monday to restore access to the White House.
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In a filing ahead of the hearing, Justice Department lawyers said the stations failed to meet the administration’s standards of professionalism and civility.
“Access to the White House is a privilege, not a right,” the filing says.
The White House Press Office sent a letter to three news organizations on Tuesday, alleging that their reporting had engaged in “verifiable false dealings and disclosures of classified and classified information regarding national security and other issues.”
The letter filed in court cited CNN’s publication of “secret” construction details for a bunker in the basement of the East Wing of the White House, MS NOW’s reporting on the impact of the Iran war on U.S. military munitions, and a Politico report on funding for the White House ballroom, including details about Secret Service security upgrades. He also noted that Politico relied on anonymous sources for a report that described the Republican midterm convention as a “disaster.”
The filing argues that releasing such information could divert national security personnel and resources as authorities assess whether the material is classified and determine its security implications.
The administration is also asking the court to overturn the 1977 Court of Appeals decision in Sherrill v. Knight, which held that access to the White House press cannot be denied arbitrarily or without a compelling reason.
A lawsuit by three news organizations claims the ban violates their First Amendment rights.
Katie Farrow, associate director of litigation at Columbia University’s Knight First Amendment Institute, said the proceedings are historic.
“No president has ever taken such an obvious step” to ban an entire news organization because he didn’t like the reporting, she said. “There have been many presidents throughout history who have complained about the press or threatened to take greater action, but really, nothing on this level before Trump.”
The case was assigned to U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly, who previously ordered CNN reporter Jim Acosta’s White House credentials reinstated during President Trump’s first term. Although Kelly is a judge appointed by President Trump, the president has already expressed disappointment with the choice.
“They convened their greatest judge, the man who ruled in favor of Jim Acosta. He has now seemingly disappeared from the face of the earth. The judge’s name is Tim Kelly, but sadly he was appointed by ‘Trump,'” the president wrote on Truth Social. “In other words, almost without a doubt, and as always, we will go on appeal, because fake news people and publications that write only negative things and violate national security by writing false and defamatory articles with unknown “sources” should not be allowed access to the most important government offices anywhere in the world. ”
Other news organizations filed court briefs Wednesday asking the court to immediately restore White House access to the three news organizations. “The targeted expulsion of media outlets from the White House grounds harms the public interest,” the paper said, adding, “Any decision based on the perspective of barring reporters from a private venue is unconstitutional under the impregnable First Amendment.”
The news organization is scheduled to publish its allegations at 3:30 pm local time (19:30 GMT).
