Trump-Appointed Judge Restores First Amendment Rights To CNN

Due Process 1, Trump 0

As anticipated, the Trump administration’s actions against CNN White House correspondent Jim Acosta have been deemed an unconstitutional violation of First Amendment and due process principles.

From the Washington Post:

In explaining his decision, [Judge Timothy J. Kelly] said he agreed with the government’s argument that there was no First Amendment right to come onto the White House grounds. But, he said, once the White House opened up the grounds to reporters, the First Amendment applied.

His ruling, however, primarily emphasized the White House’s lack of due process in revoking Acosta’s access, a key argument made by CNN in its suit. He said the White House’s decision-making was “so shrouded in mystery that the government could not tell me . . . who made the decision.” The White House’s later written arguments for banning Acosta were belated and weren’t sufficient to satisfy due process, Kelly said.

There’s really not much to analyze about the ruling, from a legal perspective. And there’s not much to talk about regarding the decision’s precendential value. I mean, there’s no deep cut here. The Trump administration did a damn fool thing. A judge ruled: “That’s not how it works. That’s not how any of this works.”

I suppose it is significant that Judge Kelly is a recent Trump appointee to the federal bench. The administration’s argument was such a stupid and obvious violation of the First Amendment, I’m not inclined to put this in the category of “Trump judges standing up to Donald Trump.” But if you want to interpret it that way, that’s fine. It’s nice to see a Trump judge with a basic understanding of legal principles, I guess. It gives me some hope that even a Trump judge will rule that Trump can’t punch babies and claim self-defense. Or that Trump can’t sign an executive order declaring a MAGA hat as the only acceptable form of voter ID.

This decision wasn’t a close case, but Trump people are so often willing to debase themselves in service of the president that I guess it’s nice to see one of his judges rule in a manner consistent with basic Constitutional principles.

Yay?

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Judge hands CNN victory in its bid to restore Jim Acosta’s White House press pass [Washington Post]


Elie Mystal is the Executive Editor of Above the Law and the Legal Editor for More Perfect. He can be reached @ElieNYC on Twitter, or at elie@abovethelaw.com. He will resist.

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