Dozens Of Media Outlets File Legal Brief Urging End To Trump Ban

A collection of more than four dozen media groups and news outlets urged a federal judge to rule to end Donald Trump‘s ban on CNN, Politico and MS NOW from the White House grounds.

Just hours before U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly is to hold a hearing, the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, the White House Correspondents’ Association and 49 other media organizations weighed in.

“The President has indicated that evictions of other news organizations will follow,” the groups stated in a proposed friend of the court brief. “The current ban – and any future bans – are intended to impair the critical work of news organizations covering the presidency if this court does not immediately intervene.”

CNN, Politico and MS NOW filed suit against Trump on Monday, two days after their correspondents were denied access to the White House grounds. Trump has said that he banned the outlets because of their negative reporting, but the Justice Department claimed in a filing on Tuesday that some of their stories jeopardized national security.

Among those signing on to the brief were the Associated Press, Reuters, NPR, the National Press Club, CBS, NBC, ABC, Fox News and the Dow Jones Co.

In the brief, the news organizations argued that courts have recognized “what the government cannot do: The administration prohibited three news organizations from access to the entirety of the White House and its grounds due to the content of their reporting.” They added that the “protections the First Amendment affords to nonpublic forum mean that curtailing access to the White House based on viewpoint is unconstitutional.”