Judge appointed by Trump will oversee news outlets’ lawsuit over White House ban

Por Kyle Cheney and Josh Gerstein — POLITICO – TOP Stories

The emergency lawsuit by three media organizations seeking to lift President Donald Trump’s ban on White House access has landed in the courtroom of U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly.

POLITICO, CNN and MS NOW are asking Kelly, who was appointed to the bench by Trump in his first term, to quickly declare the president’s ban unconstitutional and restore White House access for the organizations’ reporters.

Kelly, who was randomly assigned to the case Monday, presided over a similar lawsuit filed by CNN in 2018, after the White House suspended the credentials of correspondent Jim Acosta following a dispute over his actions during a press conference. Kelly held a hearing on the suspension the day after the lawsuit was filed and quickly ordered the White House to restore Acosta’s press pass, citing a lack of due process for the journalist.

White House officials initially insisted they were only temporarily reinstating Acosta’s pass, though they ultimately opted not to take further action against him. Instead, officials issued new policies around conduct at press conferences. With Acosta’s credentials restored, CNN dropped the suit just six days after it was filed.

Kelly is perhaps best known for presiding over the six-month jury trial of leaders of the Proud Boys who were charged with seditious conspiracy for their role in the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol. After their convictions, Kelly sentenced the group’s national chair, Enrique Tarrio, to a 22-year prison term, the lengthiest for any Jan. 6 defendant. Kelly recently, and reluctantly, ended the Proud Boys case after the Justice Department moved to dismiss the charges in connection with Trump’s grant of clemency to all those charged with Jan. 6-related offenses.

Kelly, 57, graduated from Duke University and earned his law degree at Georgetown. He spent a decade as a federal prosecutor before joining the staff of Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) as a senior counsel focusing on crime and national security. Kelly was nominated by Trump in 2017 and easily won confirmation in the Senate, 94-2, becoming Trump’s first appointee on the district court in Washington.

Fonte: POLITICO – TOP Stories