A federal court judge in Washington ordered the Trump administration to reverse its efforts aimed at forcing the closure of Voice of America (VOA), which was shut down last month in a move the broadcaster had called illegal.
U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth ruled late on April 22 to grant a preliminary injunction that says officials must "take all necessary steps" to restore employees and contractors to their positions at VOA and to restore Congress-approved funding to two other U.S.-government funded broadcasters -- Radio Free Asia and Middle East Broadcasting Networks -- and resume radio, television and online news broadcasts.
Lamberth, who is overseeing six lawsuits from employees and contractors affected by the shutdown of the US Agency for Global Media (USAGM), which oversees the federal broadcasters, also ordered the media outlets to provide monthly status reports showing the USAGM was complying with the order to allow the outlets to "provide news which is consistently reliable and authoritative, accurate, objective, and comprehensive."
The USAGM has not responded publicly to the court decision.
VOA last month filed a lawsuit saying the Trump administration has taken “a chainsaw” approach to the USAGM through an executive order that directed it and six other federal agencies to “reduce the performance of their statutory functions and associated personnel to the minimum presence and function required by law.”
The USAGM subsequently placed more than 1,000 employees on leave and terminated some 600 contractors, forcing VOA to stop its broadcasts for the first time since it was founded in 1942.
The USAGM had argued in the case that no "final decision" on VOA's future had been made and that the lawsuits should be treated as "employment disputes" with those workers who had been terminated.
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty has also filed a lawsuit against the USAGM “to avoid irreparable harm” to the broadcaster over the withholding of its Congress-approved grant as part of the agency’s efforts to terminate RFE/RL’s funding.
RFE/RL's case continues to be pursued in court.