Playboy correspondent Brian Karem (left) argues with former White House aide Sebastian Gorka (not pictured) in July. | Alex Wong/Getty Images Legal Judge tells White House to reinstate reporter’s pass

A judge has blocked the White House’s decision to revoke the press pass of Playboy correspondent Brian Karem over a Rose Garden showdown in July with former White House aide Sebastian Gorka.

U.S. District Court Judge Rudolph Contreras issued a decision Tuesday evening granting a preliminary injunction restoring Karem’s so-called “hard pass” on the grounds that the reporter had no clear notice of the rules governing press behavior at events like the presidential appearance that preceded the heated exchange.


In imposing a 30-day suspension last month, White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham said Karem’s behavior had violated widely accepted standards of “professionalism” and “decorum.” She also argued that the White House made those standards clear last November following an incident involving an effort by CNN White House reporter Jim Acosta to hang on to a microphone as a press aide sought to take it away.

However, Contreras said a four-decade-old federal appeals court precedent regarding White House press credentials requires that such rules be clear and that they be laid out in advance. He said it wasn’t clear that Grisham’s letter about Acosta applied at events others than formal press conferences — nor was it evident how one would apply the vague principles Grisham touted.

“’White House events’ appear to vary greatly in character. Thus, without any contextual guideposts, ‘professionalism,’ standing alone, remains too murky to provide fair notice here,” Contreras wrote in a 24-page opinion. “What is deemed ‘professional’ behavior in the context of a state dinner may be very different from what is considered ‘professional’ behavior during a performance by James Brown.”

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Karem expressed joy on Twitter.

“God bless the Constitution, free speech, due process and ⁦@BoutrousTed⁩ and his great legal team,“ he tweeted, referring to attorney Ted Boutrous.

His sentiments were echoed by Jonathan Karl, president of the White House Correspondents‘ Association: "The WHCA is gratified the U.S. District Court of the District of Columbia acted to uphold the due process rights of one of our members.”

Grisham condemned the ruling.

“We disagree,” she said in a statement, “with the decision of the District Court to issue an injunction that essentially gives free reign to members of the press to engage in unprofessional, disruptive conduct at the White House. Mr. Karem’s conduct, including threatening to escalate a verbal confrontation into a physical one to the point that a Secret Service agent intervened, clearly breached well-understood norms of professional conduct. The Press Secretary must have the ability to deter such unacceptable conduct.“

Contreras noted that the event — presidential remarks to a group of attendees at summit of social media influencers supportive of President Donald Trump — was hardly a solemn one at which Karem’s behavior was wildly outside the norm.

“This event was also one where jocular insults had been flying from all directions,” the judge wrote. “There is no indication in the record that other offenders were reprimanded, or even told to stop.”

“Taking into account all of the evidence in the present record, the Court cannot conclude that Karem’s behavior was clearly proscribed by the Acosta Letter’s standard, or even by any widely understood standard of ‘professionalism’ or ‘decorum’ within the context of such an unruly event,” the judge added.

The judge stressed that his ruling is not a final one on Karem’s suit and that while his credential will be restored for now, it is possible the 30-day suspension could be upheld in the future.

At the Rose Garden event in July, Karem and Gorka traded insults, which were caught on video and quickly went viral. Karem was heard saying, “This is a group of people who are eager for demonic possession.” In turn, Gorka was heard saying: “You’re not a journalist — you’re a punk!”

