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"Karem has demonstrated that even the temporary suspension of his laissez-passer inflicted irreparable harm to his First Amendment rights," Judge Rudolph Contreras of the US District Court said in his opinion.
Karem's lawyer, Ted Boutrous, told CNN that he was "very satisfied" with the court's decision.
"The suspension of press credentials by the White House violated the first amendment and due process and was a blatant attempt to deter reports on the president," Boutrous said.
The battle of Karem with the White House began on Aug. 2 when Grisham informed her that she had made a "preliminary decision" to suspend her pass for a showdown at Rose Garden with Sebastian Gorka, a former assistant to the White House and conservative media personality. .
Accreditations that allow journalists to access the White House are hard to obtain.
Karem had the opportunity to appeal Grisham's decision, which he did. But Grisham said in a letter dated August 16 that she had "made the final decision" to suspend it for 30 days, barring her access to the White House website until the 14th. September.
In the letter, made public by Karem's lawyer, Grisham described Karem's behavior during Rose Garden's confrontation with Sebastian Gorka as inappropriate.
"The conduct of Mr. Karem, as a whole, was unacceptable and disruptive, and requires an answer to prevent this from happening again," wrote Grisham.
Grisham said that she "had carefully studied a range of potential responses," including "permanently revoking her firm passport, providing a written warning and taking no action."
In the end, Grisham said, she determined that a "permanent revocation would be too heavy a punishment". But, she writes, "doing nothing, on the other hand, would be insufficient".
Karem is the second journalist to have been suspended by the Trump government. Last year, the White House canceled without notice the firm pass of Jim Acosta, CNN's chief correspondent at the White House.
CNN sued the White House. A key argument was that the White House had violated Acosta's due process rights when it had revoked its access without notice. CNN finally won and the White House restored the difficult pass of Acosta.
As a result of Acosta's legal loss, the White House put in place a system that allowed – or at least gave the appearance of – a due process. As a result, Grisham first made a "preliminary ruling" against Karem and allowed him to appeal.
Karem, however, rejected the idea that the new system would have given him due process.
"It's a kangaroo court," Karem told CNN in August. "It's just the opposite of the procedure." You are guilty, you want to come here and tell us why you are not here? "No, it's not a proper procedure – it's the complete opposite of the proper procedure."
The judge presiding over his case agreed on Tuesday.
Contreras wrote in his opinion that Karem had "demonstrated that he was likely to succeed" by asserting that his due process rights had been violated when his pass had been suspended.
"The current record indicates that Grisham failed to provide just notification that a hard pass could be suspended under these circumstances," Contreras explained.
In his decision, Contreras was sensitive to the "desire to maintain a degree of control over access and decorum" in the White House. But he said that "assigning passes to the White House is not a mere banality" and that "the need for regulatory direction is at its height when constitutional rights are involved. "
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