A federal judge on Tuesday ordered the Trump administration to restore the Voice of America and affiliated news services and blocked attempts to shutter the government-funded outlet, according to reports.
U.S. District Judge for the District of Columbia Royce Lamberth ordered VOA's parent agency, the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM), to restore funding and rehire staff that had been laid off at VOA as well as Radio Free Asia and the Middle Broadcasting Networks.
Lamberth, a Ronald Reagan appointee, wrote that the administration is likely in direct violation of numerous federal laws."
VOA went off the air soon after President Donald Trump issued an executive order on March 14 that pared funding to USAGM and six other unrelated federal entities. The EO also moved last month to terminate VOA contracts with news agencies. Congress appropriated nearly $860 million to USAGM for the current fiscal year.
"They took immediate and drastic action to slash USAGM, without considering its statutorily or constitutionally required functions as required by the plain language of the [executive order], and without regard to the harm inflicted on employees, contractors, journalists, and media consumers around the world," Lamberth wrote.
"It is hard to fathom a more straightforward display of arbitrary and capricious actions than the Defendants' actions here."
The White House has called the service "The Voice of Radical America" and said Trump's order would "ensure that taxpayers are no longer on the hook for radical propaganda." It cited coverage it said was "too favorable" to former President Joe Biden, as well as stories about white privilege, racial profiling, and transgender migrants seeking asylum.
However, Lamberth wrote "there is no sign" the administration considered the reach of VOA.
"VOA has been operating under statutory mandate and with steady congressional appropriations for over eighty years, and in so doing, has cultivated an audience of 425 million listeners who rely on VOA's output — particularly in areas of the world where a free press is otherwise unavailable," Lamberth wrote. "The Networks have contributed to U.S. international broadcasting by almost exclusively relying on their yearly congressional appropriations, which have been uninterrupted for decades before March 15, 2025."
Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.
Mark Swanson ✉
Mark Swanson, a Newsmax writer and editor, has nearly three decades of experience covering news, culture and politics.
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