The Trump administration is not giving up its fight to keep CNN, MS NOW and Politico out of the White House. Justice Department attorneys filed a notice of appeal this week, asking the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to wipe out a judge's order that has kept the three outlets' reporters credentialed on White House grounds for the past month, according to TheWrap.

The target of the appeal is a preliminary injunction issued by U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly — a Trump appointee — in the case Cable News Network v. Trump. Kelly ruled the outlets are likely to win their First Amendment and due-process claims, concluding that Trump's irritation with their coverage, not any genuine national-security concern, was the real motive for stripping their press badges.

A Monthlong Standoff

The fight began September 18, when Trump announced on social media that CNN, MS NOW and Politico were barred from the building over coverage he branded "fake news." The outlets sued days later, and Kelly issued a temporary order restoring access on September 24. After a hearing in early October, he extended that lift before converting it into a full preliminary injunction on October 13 — triggering the DOJ's appeal the very next day, per Bloomberg Law's coverage of the case.

THE GOVERNMENT'S ARGUMENTS OFFER LITTLE TO BACK UP THEIR ASSERTED NATIONAL SECURITY INTEREST.

That line, from Kelly's bench remarks, cut to the heart of the dispute. DOJ attorney Michael Velchik argued the president has broad discretion over who gets White House access and can't always know how reporters obtained sensitive information. CNN's outside lawyer, Theodore Boutrous Jr., countered that the administration offered a "sham" process and that the ban amounts to unconstitutional viewpoint discrimination.

The appeal doesn't automatically freeze the injunction, so the three outlets keep their hard-pass credentials for now — though the ruling never guaranteed them a spot in the rotating broadcast pool that covers the president day to day, and Politico has separately been kept off Air Force One trips.

The pool dispute has spiraled into its own legal headache. When CNN was frozen out of its TV pool assignment, the other four network pool members — ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox — refused to fill in, in solidarity. The Justice Department responded by opening an antitrust inquiry into all five networks, demanding internal communications over whether their coordinated pause violated the Sherman Act's ban on group boycotts among competitors, a fight first detailed by Political Wire and other outlets tracking the case.

No charges have been filed in the antitrust probe, and the networks have not issued public statements responding to it. The White House has called Kelly's ruling "misguided" and says it intends to keep fighting.

What's next: the appeal now heads to the D.C. Circuit while the underlying lawsuit grinds on in district court, meaning press badges, pool slots and Air Force One seating could all stay contested through the thick of midterm season.