[ad_1]
CNN dropped its case against the White House on Monday after officials announced to the network that they would restore Jim Acosta's credentials as long as he complied with a series of new rules at presidential press conferences. , including asking one question at a time.
"Today, the White House has fully restored Jim Acosta's press card," CNN said in a statement. "As a result, our lawsuit is no longer necessary. We look forward to continuing to cover the White House. "
The White House's decision to reinstate the Acosta pass, contained in a letter to the news network, appeared to be a concession to CNN in its lawsuit against the administration. White House officials had suspended their press card at the White House of Acosta following a controversial press conference held Nov. 7.
Press Secretary Sarah Sanders and Deputy Chief of Staff Bill Shine took a stand just three days ago when they announced to Acosta and CNN that they are suspending his press card again. once a temporary restraining order has been issued. the action expires. The 14-day order was made Friday and unless the judge extends it, it will expire at the end of the month.
Sanders then stated that the White House would "only temporarily restore" Mr. Acosta's powers in response to a preliminary court ruling in his favor. In a letter sent to the end on Friday and made public on Monday, Sanders and Shine acknowledged that there was no formal rule on how journalists are supposed to behave during presidential press conferences, but that Acosta had violated "well-understood basic practices" by asking several questions and refusing to give up a microphone at the president's press conference.
As a result, officials said they would again remove Acosta's ability to enter the White House grounds after the cancellation of the blocking action.
But on Monday, Sanders and Shine said they had made the "final decision" to reinstate Acosta's pass. "If you refuse to follow [new rules] in the future, we will act "to withdraw the pass.
Among the rules: Journalists must ask the president a question at press conferences, but may ask another question if the president so wishes. A journalist must then "give the floor", including giving up a microphone. Failure to comply with these rules, according to the White House letter, will result in the revocation of a journalist's pass to the White House.
The letter prompted CNN to end its lawsuit against the White House.
The CNN administration's letter came after its lawyer, Theodore Boutrous, had opposed the White House's threat to remove the Acosta pass after the expiry of a restraining order. He wrote that such an action amounted to a "retroactive regular procedure".
In a separate letter addressed to Shine and Sanders and filed in court, Boutrous said the White House was trying to impose "vague and unformulated standards" retroactively, in violation of the court's Friday ruling that Acosta would not have followed the regular procedure. White House when he revoked his pass.
CNN had requested a preliminary injunction preventing the White House from suspending the Acosta map until its trial was resolved. Boutrous has asked US District Judge Timothy J. Kelly to order the White House to file an official response Tuesday to CNN's injunction application.
Instead, the White House seems to have made it on the issue.
In a decision seen as a victory for press freedom, Kelly, nominated by President Trump, ordered the White House Friday to temporarily release Acosta's press badge while he examined the merits of the press. case and the possibility of a permanent order.
He stated that the White House had an obligation to ensure due process in Acosta before it could revoke or suspend access, and concluded that the White House's decision-making process in this case was " so wrapped in mystery that the government could not tell me. . . who made the decision. "
Trump said Friday that "we are setting a certain standard, as the court demands," but no new rules have been published. On that day, after the court order, Sanders announced that the White House "would develop rules and processes to ensure fair and orderly press conferences in the future." There must be a decorum at the White House.
CNN, in a statement released on Friday, said: "The White House continues to violate the first and fifth amendments to the Constitution, and these actions threaten all journalists and media outlets, and Jim Acosta and CNN will continue to announce the news. White House and President. "
CNN and Acosta, White House's White House chief correspondent, sued White House and Sanders last week after suspension of press letters after minor altercation between Acosta and White House intern , who had tried to take a microphone while he was questioning the president. .
Sanders initially said the suspension was due to Acosta's "putting his hands" on the inside, but the White House changed its reasoning after Sanders was widely criticized for tweeting a video of the 39, which seemed to have been changed to make Acosta more aggressive. Sanders later said the Acosta pass was revoked because Acosta had tried to "monopolize the ground" at the press conference.
In defending the White House decision, Justice Department lawyers claimed that it was not a First Amendment offense because CNN had other journalists in the First Amendment. White House who "were more than able to cover the White House complex on behalf of CNN", and Acosta could still "exercise his profession and report on the White House" – but not at the White House.
Kelly found that the "right to freedom of the first amendment granted by a reporter to a press pass at the White House" is protected by the due process guarantees of the Fifth Amendment. In essence, he criticized the White House for not having established rules and procedures to take the measures that were required.
In deciding whether to prohibit Acosta amounted to "irreparable harm", a standard for granting temporary restraining orders, Kelly cited the case of journalist Robert Sherrill, who had objected to the refusal of the press by the White House in 1977 and had also obtained the right to due process. and a restoration of his pass.
"The interests of the First Amendment as recognized in Sherrill were not simply invested in publications or agencies; it's the freedom of the journalists themselves, "Kelly said. "For this reason, the fact that CNN can still send another journalist or journalists to the White House does not make the harm caused to Mr. Acosta less irreparable. . . . It is an injury that can not be remedied later. . . . Therefore, on this extremely unusual set of facts and interests at stake, I find that the plaintiffs have discharged their burden of establishing that irreparable harm has occurred. and will continue to occur in the absence of [remedy]. "
[ad_2]
Source link
