Federal judge suspends Trump administration's plan to cut jobs at US Agency for Global Media

A federal judge has temporarily suspended the Trump administration's plan to cut jobs at the U.S. Agency for Global Media.

U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth ruled Monday that the agency cannot eliminate 532 jobs for full-time government employees, which was set to happen Tuesday, CBS News reported. The 532 employees are the vast majority of the agency's remaining staff.

Kari Lake, the agency's acting CEO, announced last month that the job cuts would take effect on Tuesday. However, the ruling by the Reagan-appointed Washington, D.C., judge preserves the status quo at the agency until he rules on an underlying motion from plaintiffs to block the reduction in force.

Previously, Lamberth ruled that the Trump administration must restore Voice of America's programming to levels that meet its statutory mandate to "serve as a consistently reliable and authoritative source of news." He also blocked Lake from removing VOA Director Michael Abramowitz.

VOA is overseen by the U.S. Agency for Global Media.

Lamberth also ruled separately that the administration had failed to show how it was complying with his orders to restore VOA's operations.

In March, President Trump signed an executive order effectively shutting down VOA.

Lamberth said the administration had shown "concerning disrespect" toward the court in response to his earlier orders to provide information about its plans for VOA.

VOA employees sued to block the dismantling of the agency, claiming the planned cuts would hamper the judge's ability to enforce the injunction he issued in April.

"This Court should therefore preserve the status quo while the parties litigate compliance," the employees' attorneys wrote.

Meanwhile, Justice Department lawyers accused the plaintiffs of impermissibly trying to micromanage the agency's operations.

"Enjoining the reductions in force would be a wholly overbroad and improper remedy," the government attorneys wrote.