Judge Takes Over Voice of America+, Orders Everyone Re-hired

On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth issued a ruling blocking the Trump administration‘s attempt to shut down government-funded international radio broadcasts, including Voice of America (VOA), Radio Free Asia, and the Middle East Broadcasting Networks.

He seeks to take over operations.

At the heart of Judge Lamberth’s decision: VOA is funded by Congress and required to produce news for a wide audience around the world. Lamberth said the deep cuts to the agency are “a direct affront to the power of the legislative branch.”

He said it likely violates the law since it is statutorily mandated and has constitutional requirements. He said the legislative branch funds it, and it oversteps its authority. Kari Lake, who ran it until this judge took it over, said they were stripping it down to its statutory limits.

If there are statutes protecting it, Congress must act, but they won’t. They’ve done nothing. When we win the Supreme Court, House, Senate, and Presidency, we lose. Everything is set up so Democrats always win. They have permanent slush funds and bureaucratic power that exists even if they win the election.

The Story

Last month, all employees were placed on leave.

The shutdown, implemented in March by the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM), had placed over 1,000 employees on leave, prompting six lawsuits from affected staff and contractors.

Judge Lamberth directed the administration to take all necessary measures to reinstate the employees and resume the broadcasts. He cited congressional authorization and funding of these broadcasts, emphasizing their mission to deliver accurate, objective, and comprehensive news to global audiences.

“In short, the defendants had no method or approach towards shutting down USAGM that this Court can discern,” said Lamberth, an appointee of former President Reagan who has sentenced people to prison for merely walking around the Capitol on January 6.

“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 EO, and without regard to the harm inflicted on employees, contractors, journalists, and media consumers around the world.

“It is hard to fathom a more straightforward display of arbitrary and capricious actions than the Defendants’ actions here,” the judge said.

Kari Lake has said that Voice of America and its appendages have been taxpayer-funded propaganda. They are spreading Marxism, LGBT ideology, DEI, CCP propaganda, and anti-Americanism. She called it corrupt.

Kari Lake said they don’t know where the money goes, and the plan was to strip it down to its statutory minimum.

Far-left Eisen, a close friend of Justice Roberts for years, gloats:

Margo Cleveland’s Response

Marot Cleveland said another judge trumped the President’s executive authority.

The court seeks to control operations and wants monthly reports from the Trump administration.

The court ordered the reinstatement of those with personal service contracts, even though those contracts provide that they can be terminated with 15 days’ notice.

The court’s “reasoning,” such as it is:

Before the Court is the plaintiffs’ Motion for a Preliminary Injunction, which seeks to enjoin the defendants from dismantling the United States Agency for Global Media (USAGM) in response to Executive Order 14238, “Continuing the Reduction of the Federal Bureaucracy,” announced by President Trump on March 14, 2025.

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.

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