A federal judge on Tuesday ordered the Trump Administration to rehire Voice of America (VOA) and other affiliate news services staff.
President Trump placed employees and contractors for government-funded Voice of America on leave last month.
US District Judge Royce Lamberth, a Reagan appointee, said Voice of America is funded by Congress and Trump’s cuts to the agency are “a direct affront to the power of the legislative branch.”
BREAKING: A federal judge has ordered the Trump administration to restore Voice of America and several affiliated news services, finding the Trump administration’s efort to dismantle it likely violated the law. https://t.co/GjLdN3FrUX pic.twitter.com/g4EOwGC616
— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) April 22, 2025
CBS News reported:
A federal judge ordered the Trump administration to rehire all Voice of America, Radio Free Asia and Middle East Broadcasting Network staff for now, and he said all congressional funding must resume to the outlets, which had been effectively shuttered by the administration.
D.C. U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth granted a preliminary injunction on behalf of the plaintiff, VOA journalist Patsy Widakuswara and her colleagues, against Kari Lake, the acting CEO of the U.S. Agency for Global Media. USAGM is supposed to be an independent federal agency overseeing public service media networks.
The judge instructed the defendants to take all necessary steps to return the employees and their contractors to their outlets, so they can “provide news which is consistently reliable and authoritative, accurate, objective and comprehensive.”
A preliminary injunction was not granted to Radio Free Europe because it filed a separate lawsuit.
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