On Thursday, Judge Timothy J. Kelly ordered the Trump administration to restore White House access to journalists from CNN, MS NOW and Politico. In his ruling, he found that barring the news outlets without due process likely amounted to “constitutional harm” that had an impact on the public, as well, “given the importance of the free press.”

Thursday’s ruling made Judge Kelly the latest jurist appointed to the federal bench by President Trump during his first term who has issued a high-profile ruling blocking one of Mr. Trump’s second-term policies. It was not the first time that Judge Kelly had signaled his independence from Mr. Trump’s preferences. In a similar case from 2018, he ordered the administration to restore press credentials to Jim Acosta, then CNN’s chief White House correspondent.

In 2017, when Judge Kelly was appointed by Mr. Trump to the Federal District Court for the District of Columbia, he had served for a decade in the Justice Department under both Democratic and Republican presidents. He clerked for a judge appointed by President George H.W. Bush and joined the Federalist Society in 2009. Judge Kelly graduated from Georgetown University Law Center and worked for Arnold and Porter, a storied Beltway law firm. He was confirmed by a 94-to-2 vote.