The ‘due process’ argument is bunk.
Did this judge get his law degree out of a box of Cracker Jack?
If a person inside a courtroom is ‘held in contempt’ by the Judge, does that person get due process?
No. That person gets to spend time in jail.
Bad example. Contempt findings require that the person first be placed on notice that they are in violation of an order or published rule. I've seen contempt citations reversed for that exact reason.
That being said, I don't agree that there should be a due process right for a press pass. But this was a lower Court judge bound by the precedent of his own Circuit Court of Appeals. He gave the best ruling he could under those circumstances, and did not give Acosta and the press what they really wanted - a First Amendment right to attend press conferences.