The heated confrontation between the administration of US President Donald Trump and three major media organizations moved to the courts, after CNN, MS Now, and the Politico website filed a formal lawsuit against the administration against the backdrop of banning its journalists from entering the White House and withdrawing their permits.
The three media organizations asserted in their lawsuit that the ban was issued arbitrarily and without prior warning or due legal procedures, stressing that the step aims to punish them for the nature of their press coverage, and is a flagrant violation of the First Amendment to the US Constitution. The plaintiffs requested urgent judicial intervention to cancel the ban and return their journalists to the White House.
According to the Associated Press, the institutions filed a request before the Federal District Court in Washington to issue a temporary injunction, amid expectations that emergency hearings will be held during this week to decide the case.
This escalation comes after President Trump announced, last Friday, the ban on the three institutions, accusing them of promoting “fake news,” while hinting at the possibility of expanding the scope of the ban to include other media platforms.
The decision took effect immediately over the weekend; CNN correspondent Betsy Klein, MS Now correspondent Akayla Gardner, and Politico correspondent Cheyenne Haslett were banned from entering the presidential residence, and their press passes were suspended or confiscated.
While the Trump administration maintains its position in defense of the measures under the pretext of countering inaccurate media coverage, the affected institutions warn that the continued ban undermines the public’s right to obtain independent and direct information about the activities of the executive branch.
