A federal judge delivered a stinging rebuke to the Trump administration on Tuesday, halting its attempt to shutter Voice of America (VOA) and its sister networks, calling the move likely unlawful and "hard to fathom."
U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth, a Reagan appointee, indefinitely blocked efforts to wind down the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM) - VOA’s parent agency, and ordered the full restoration of its operations and workforce.
Lamberth didn’t mince words, writing in his ruling that the administration “silenced VOA, canceled funds to affiliate Networks, and shut down all transmitters at foreign service stations abroad,” with no discernible legal process.
"It is hard to fathom a more straightforward display of arbitrary and capricious actions than the Defendants’ actions here," Lamberth continued.
“In short, the defendants had no method or approach towards shutting down USAGM that this Court can discern,” the judge declared. “They took immediate and drastic action… without regard to the harm inflicted on employees, contractors, journalists, and media consumers around the world.”
The judge also ordered USAGM to return employees who were placed on leave and prohibited further staff reductions while the lawsuit proceeds. He further directed continued funding for the agency’s international broadcasting efforts, emphasizing that the silencing of USAGM undermines both journalistic integrity and U.S. strategic interests.
The court battle began after former President Donald Trump issued an executive order disbanding the agency. In a controversial appointment, Trump tapped Kari Lake, a former news anchor turned political firebrand and Arizona gubernatorial candidate, to lead the agency. Lake justified the shutdown by citing “waste, fraud and abuse,” echoing broader administration efforts to slash the federal workforce.
But critics saw the move as a thinly veiled assault on press freedom.
“They can use a scalpel or a sledgehammer; either way it’s viewpoint discrimination,” said attorney Andrew Celli, representing a coalition of VOA journalists, unions, and the free press watchdog Reporters Without Borders, who filed suit last month.
Celli argued the administration targeted the network’s coverage of issues ranging from Hamas to transgender rights, topics that reportedly drew the ire of Trump allies.
Lamberth’s ruling stopped short of reinstating all operations. While VOA and its major affiliates, Radio Free Asia and Middle Eastern Broadcast Network, were covered by the injunction, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and the Open Technology Fund were left out due to related ongoing litigation.
The decision delivers a major blow to the administration’s effort to rein in the global media outlet. Lamberth warned that financial harm posed by the shutdown wasn’t just a budgetary issue, it threatened the “very existence” of the network and the safety of its journalists.
