Federal judge orders Trump administration to bring back federally funded Voice of America

A federal judge on Tuesday directed the Trump administration to restore the federally funded Voice of America (VOA), finding its efforts to dismantle the news organization and its affiliates were likely unlawful.

The order comes after President Donald Trump drastically reduced the size of the federal agency that oversees VOA, which is called the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM). The order told the agency to maintain its core functions that are legally required but reduce operations to the minimum that's required by law.

U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth ruled that USAGM must restore the news outlet, and told the agency that it cannot prevent the outlet from serving as a “consistently reliable and authoritative” news source, according to The Hill.

“The defendants had no method or approach towards shutting down USAGM that this Court can discern,” Lamberth wrote. “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," he added.

Lamberth also directed the agency to bring back employees that had been placed on leave, and instructed it not to reduce the workforce while other litigation continues. The administration placed almost the entire staff of VOA on leave, which affected more than 1,200 people.

The ruling comes after a group of VOA employees, in conjunction with other groups like Reporters Without Borders and the American Foreign Service Association, sued the Trump administration over the president's executive order.

The executive order also instructed officials to reduce the sizes of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, the Institute of Museum and Library Services, and the Minority Business Development Agency, among others.

Misty Severi is a news reporter for Just The News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.