Judge Halts Donald Trump’s Effort To Dismantle Voice Of America
A federal judge blocked the Trump administration from dismantling the Voice of America, the U.S.-run international broadcasting service.
U.S. District Court Judge J. Paul Oetke granted a temporary restraining order to a group of VOA employees who brought the case.
The plaintiffs were joined in the litigation by other groups, including Reporters Without Borders, unions and the American Foreign Service Association.
Earlier this month, the Trump administration put almost the entire staff of VOA on leave, largely halting its operations. It followed a Trump executive order to eliminate the U.S. Agency for Global Media, the agency that oversees VOA and government-funded other broadcasting networks, to all but their statutory functions.
“The dismantling of USAGM would clearly cause employees, contractors, and grantees irreparable harm,” the judge wrote. “And Plaintiffs have offered sufficient evidence that Defendants are doing just that.”
The administration’s actions have left more than 1,200 VOA journalists, editors, engineers and other employees sidelined. VOA has a budget of about $270 million.
The plaintiffs in the lawsuit claimed that Trump’s team, led by Kari Lake, “usurped Congressional power and acted arbitrarily” in violation of the Administrative Procedure Act. They also claimed that the Trump administration violated a law that ensured that there would be a “firewall” to ensure the editorial integrity of VOA and other networks.
“The disturbing result: In many parts of the world a crucial source of objective news is gone, and only censored state-sponsored news media is left to fill the void,” the plaintiffs said in their lawsuit.
