Federal judge blocks Trump administration from dismantling Voice of America

[pat_k]

2. "an affront to the power of the legislative branch."

https://www.courthousenews.com/federal-judge-blocks-trumps-silencing-of-voice-of-america/

"The defendants are likely in violation of numerous federal laws,” Lamberth wrote. “For one VOA’s congressionally established charter in the International Broadcasting Act states that VOA ‘will serve as a consistently reliable and authoritative source of news [that is] accurate, objective and comprehensive,’ but the defendants have silenced VOA for the first time ever.”
...
Senior U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth said the Trump administration's effort to halt congressional funding to the independent media outlet "is an affront to the power of the legislative branch." ...

And from the intro https://ecf.dcd.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/show_public_doc?2025cv1015-98

The plaintiffs allege that USAGM’s actions,
purportedly in furtherance of the Executive Order—terminating and threatening to terminate the majority of USAGM staff, ending grants to its affiliates, and silencing programming—violate the First Amendment, constitutional separation of powers principles, the Take Care Clause, and statutory provisions including the Administrative Procedure Act (APA), International Broadcasting Act, and congressional appropriations acts. Broadly,the plaintiffs ask this Court to order the defendants to take all necessary steps to return USAGM and its employees, contractors, and grantees to their status prior to the March 14, 2025 Executive Order.


For the reasons contained herein, the Motion for a Preliminary Injunction will be
GRANTED IN PART and DENIED IN PART. The Court will GRANT the Motion as it applies
to the defendants’ actions to shutter the USAGM entities Voice of America, Radio Free Asia, and Middle East Broadcasting Networks. The Court will DENY the Motion as to the other affiliated network entities.