No ruling after high-stakes hearing over Trump media ban

WASHINGTON – A federal judge did not issue a ruling after a high-stakes hearing on whether to quickly halt President Donald Trump's ban of several news outlets from the White House, though he expressed concerns that the president's move may violate the Constitution.

U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly, a Trump appointee, listened to lawyers' arguments Sept. 23 as he decides whether to grant a request from CNN, MS NOW and Politico for a temporary restraining order that would reinstate their reporters' White House press passes. Kelly appeared open to issuing that order, noting at one point that if he does reinstate the passes, he wouldn't necessarily be preventing Trump from blocking the reporters' entrance to some smaller parts of the White House.

Kelly also said past court decisions have established that journalists have the right to certain procedures before their White House press passes are pulled. The judge closed the afternoon hearing by saying he will try to issue a decision as soon as he can.

Trump announced on Sept. 18 that the three outlets would no longer be able to report from the White House, and that bans for other outlets were also coming. He didn't point to specific…

Original source: https://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/