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A federal judge on Friday ordered the Trump administration to restore CNN's Jim Acosta's press powers, giving the cable network a quick payoff in its lawsuit against the president and members of his administration.
Judge Timothy J. Kelly, of the US District Court in Washington, presiding over one of the first major tests of press rights under President Trump, ruled that the White House is not going to be able to do anything. was behaved inappropriately by stripping Mr. Acosta of his press badge shortly after an exchange a press conference last week.
The administration's process of banning the correspondent "is still so mysterious that the government is not able to tell me" who made the decision, said Judge Kelly. Removing the pass that gave Mr. Acosta access to the White House violated his right to a fair and transparent process, the judge said.
Shortly after the decision, Trump said the White House would tighten its rules on the behavior of journalists in the White House.
"People have to behave," said the president in the oval office. "If they do not listen to the rules and regulations, we will end up in court and win."
The decision was an important victory for CNN and Mr. Acosta, but Judge Kelly declined to say whether the refusal of the White House press card was considered a first-amendment affair.
"I want to emphasize the very limited nature of this decision," he said, stating that he was not supposed to devote the right of access of journalists. "I did not determine that the first amendment had been violated here."
The legal battle should continue: Justice Kelly only ruled on the network's urgent request for Mr. Acosta's provisional reinstatement. Hearings on other issues in the case are expected to resume next week.
Some lawyers said that, aside from CNN's initial victory, journalists covering the president must remain vigilant. The case pointed out that the entry granted to the White House press corps, which has been operating from the West Wing for decades, is based on custom rather than on a legal framework.
"It could work against us," said William L. Youmans, a professor of media law at George Washington University. Mr. Acosta "gets his title now, but this allows the Trump administration to set some standards of conduct."
"A policy of" rudeness "or" aggressive behavior "would be a huge deterrent and would be much more damaging to the whole system," Dr. Youmans added. "If that lowers the bar to pull the identification information, it's a recipe for a tepid press."
In calling for the return of Mr. Acosta's powers, CNN cited a case from the 1970s that required the White House to demonstrate a clear process and right of appeal before revoking a journalist's powers.
In addition to saying that the White House had not explained its process of revoking the press badge, Judge Kelly criticized the administration for its false claim that Mr. Acosta got hold of a White House trainee at the press conference. The judge described it as "presumably inaccurate and at least partly based on evidence of questionable accuracy".
After the decision, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said her team is considering "developing rules and processes to ensure fair and orderly press conferences in the future".
"There must be decorum in the White House," she added.
Given Mr. Trump's penchant for insulting journalists – he recently labeled the issues as "stupid" and "racist" and joked about a Montana lawmaker who criticized the body of a journalist – he said, "I do not want to talk about it." The use of "decorum" attracted the sneers of journalists on Twitter. But the lawyers took it more seriously.
"This decision does not say that what Acosta did was the right thing or the wrong thing," said Nancy Gertner, former federal judge and professor at Harvard Law School. "The judge ruled that the president could not revoke his powers without due process: a statement of what he had done wrong, an opportunity to respond, a final decision. The decision leaves these issues and its first amendment challenge for another day. "
During the hearing, Justice Kelly appeared to subscribe to the argument advanced by the administration's lawyers that the first amendment did not guarantee the right to enter the campus of the White House.
"I have nothing against that," said the judge, adding that the president "may never again appeal to Mr. Acosta".
The CNN case v. Donald J. Trump has become a symbol of the dysfunctional dynamics between the White House press corps and a president who denigrates his work as "false news".
No president has taken the risk of being closely scrutinized by the media, and the administrations have long used subtle and not so subtle methods to conceal journalists who they found troublesome, for example. example by ignoring their questions at information meetings or giving scoops to their competitors.
But CNN supporters, including news agencies such as the Associated Press, Fox News, and The New York Times, have said that the quashing of a correspondent's powers was a threat and a threat. for the fundamental freedoms of the press.
For Mr. Trump and his followers, penalizing Mr. Acosta was a pleasure for the crowd.
The president's political team issued a fundraising e-mail mentioning CNN's lawsuit, proving that the media were determined to undermine the administration. White House allies, like Sean Hannity, denounced Acosta as a biased grandmother.
The official access of journalists to the White House goes back almost to the administration of Woodrow Wilson, the first president to hold regular press conferences, and journalists work from the narrow quarters of the West Wing since Nixon era.
The identifiers are particularly important for network correspondents, who stand in front of the cameras in an area called Pebble Beach, which offers a picturesque view of North Lawn and the White House portico.
Mr. Acosta, aged 47, has made himself known largely because of his discussions with Mr. Trump, who at times refused to call the correspondent and once called him " a real beauty. The son of a Cuban refugee, Mr. Acosta grew up near Washington and worked on the television news since his studies.
He is not the first journalist to win the president's animus. In 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt handed a Nazi Iron Cross to a press conference and asked that it be awarded to one of his most beloved columnists, a columnist for the Daily News in New York.
On Friday, in the Oval Office, Trump told reporters that any new regulations on press access would be focused on "decorum", although he maintains the vague definition.
"You must act with respect," said the president. "You're in the White House and when I see how some of my people are treated at press conferences, it's terrible."
Mr Trump suggested that he could reduce his public appearances if White House correspondents did not follow the rules. "We will leave, and you will not be very happy because we have good grades," he said.
As for the delivery of his badge to Mr. Acosta, the President tried to be nonchalant.
"It's not a big deal," he said in an interview with Chris Wallace, the presenter of "Fox News Sunday." "And if he misbehaves, we'll send him away."
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