Three news organizations returned to the White House on Thursday.

A judge had temporarily lifted the ban on CNN, MS NOW and Politico.

The ban was part of a dispute between President Donald Trump and outlets whose coverage he dislikes.

But coverage of the White House was still not normal.

On a day when Chinese leader Xi Jinping visited Washington, no major American network aired live coverage.

The White House had banned CNN from a rotation of five major U.S. broadcast outlets.

These outlets take turns shooting and sharing video.

The other four refused to take part in the video pool as a show of solidarity.

In the morning, the three banned outlets were denied entry.

A Secret Service agent confiscated their credentials.

After the ruling, White House officials were told to restore access.

They said they needed time to find and reactivate the badges.

The process took over two hours, according to a court filing.

U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly ordered the White House to "immediately return, reinstate, and restore" access for the three outlets.

He said they were likely to succeed in showing their press passes were revoked without due process.

Kelly was nominated by Trump in 2017.

He said the government must have clear standards for revoking a press pass.

He called the standard in the White House letters "so vague it hardly does the trick."

He also rejected the administration's argument that the reporting endangered national security.

Theodore Boutrous Jr., the outlets' attorney, said the ruling vindicated press freedom and the rule of law.

Justice Department attorney Michael Velchik said access to the White House is a privilege, not a right.

The temporary restraining order expires in two weeks.

The judge gave both sides until Oct. 5 to file arguments on a longer-lasting ruling.