Judge Timothy Kelly ruled shortly after midnight Thursday. He ordered the White House to "immediately return, reinstate, and restore" the press passes of CNN, MS NOW and Politico. Trump took them away last week.
At about 6 a.m. CNN's Betsy Klein walked up to the gate with a photographer. Secret Service officers turned them away. A Politico reporter arrived, and the officers took that reporter's pass. MS NOW's Laura Barrón-López and her producer were refused too. One CNN producer and one MS NOW producer got through. Everyone else stood outside.
The three outlets went straight back to Kelly. They told him the White House had "repeatedly violated" his order. They asked for an emergency hearing. Kelly gave the government until 12:30 p.m. to explain itself in writing.
The passes came back on just before that deadline. Barrón-López said at midday: "I was just allowed back into the White House through the northwest gate." Kelly's order was about eleven hours old by then. Below the wall: the White House's only answer, the last two times a judge opened this door, and who fed Politico the quote.
