A major development in Washington today: a U.S. federal appeals court has temporarily blocked a ruling that would have forced the Trump administration to reinstate over 1,000 Voice of America employees. The decision halts, for now, efforts to restart operations at the nation’s government-funded international news outlet, which has been largely shut down since March.
The appeals court’s 2-to-1 decision comes after U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth last month ordered the administration to ‘take all necessary steps’ to return Voice of America staff and contractors to their jobs, restore broadcasts on radio, TV, and online, and reinstate $15 million in funding for Radio Free Asia and the Middle East Broadcasting Networks.
But the appeals court questioned whether Judge Lamberth even had the authority to issue such an order, particularly regarding staffing and funding decisions. The ruling leaves the future of Voice of America—and its sister networks—in limbo.
At the heart of the legal battle is a March directive from former President Trump, under which the U.S. Agency for Global Media abruptly shut down broadcasts, put more than 1,000 employees on leave, and moved to terminate hundreds of contractors. Since then, Voice of America’s website has remained frozen, with no news updates since March 15. Its radio stations abroad have either gone silent or are airing only music.
Despite the setback in court, Judge Lamberth’s original ruling had reaffirmed that Congress mandates the broadcasts by law, preventing the executive branch from unilaterally shutting them down or stripping their funding. In Friday’s filings, reports indicated Voice of America was preparing to resume broadcasts next week.
However, U.S. Circuit Judge Cornelia Pillard dissented from the appeals court’s ruling, warning that delaying restoration of staff and funding would effectively destroy the networks. In her words, this decision all but guarantees that the networks will no longer exist in any meaningful form by the time this case is fully adjudicated.
Trump advisor Kari Lake, who announced the shutdown in March, declared the appeals court ruling a ‘huge victory for the us’ on social media, calling Voice of America ‘irretrievably broken’ and biased against the administration.
With this latest legal twist, the fate of America’s government-funded global news broadcasts remains uncertain. Will Voice of America’s historic mission survive? We’ll continue to follow this story closely.
Reporting by Katy Moore.
