WASHINGTON – On Monday, a federal judge decided to temporarily halt the Trump administration’s initiative to cut numerous positions at the agency responsible for overseeing Voice of America, a broadcaster funded by the government and established during World War II to challenge Nazi propaganda.
The ruling, delivered by U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth in Washington, D.C., prevents the U.S. Agency for Global Media from moving forward with a plan to reduce its workforce by eliminating 532 positions for full-time government employees starting Tuesday. This action affects most of the agency’s existing workforce.
Kari Lake, acting CEO of the agency, announced at the end of August that the job reductions would begin on Tuesday. However, the judge’s decision temporarily maintains the current state of the agency while he considers a request from plaintiffs to block the planned workforce reduction.
Earlier, Lamberth had determined that President Donald Trump’s Republican administration needed to restore VOA’s programming levels in line with its legal obligation to “serve as a consistently reliable and authoritative source of news.” He also prevented Lake from dismissing Michael Abramowitz as the director of VOA.
Judge cites ‘concerning disrespect’ toward court from administration
Lamberth noted the administration’s “concerning disrespect” towards the court following his previous instructions to provide details about its intentions for Voice of America.
The employees who filed the lawsuit to stop the deconstruction of Voice of America argued that the intended cuts would hinder the judge’s ability to enforce an injunction he ordered in April. Their legal representatives stated that “this Court should therefore preserve the status quo while the parties litigate compliance.”
Government 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,” they wrote.
Lamberth, a senior judge, was nominated to the bench by Republican President Ronald Reagan in 1987.
Can media agency continue to fulfill its ‘statutory mission’?
The U.S. Agency for Global Media also houses Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Radio Free Asia, Middle East Broadcasting Networks and Radio Marti, which beams Spanish-language news into Cuba. The networks, which together reach an estimated 427 million people, date to the Cold War and are part of a network of government-funded organizations trying to extend U.S. influence and combat authoritarianism.
Congress appropriated $875 million to the agency for fiscal year 2025 and required that $260 million of the funds must be spent by VOA.
In March, Trump signed an executive order called for the agency to reduce its “statutory functions and associated personnel to the minimum presence and function required by law.” A day later, VOA stopped broadcasting for the first time in 83 years. The agency placed almost all of its full-time employees on administrative leave.
In announcing the job cuts on social media last month, Lake said the agency “will continue to fulfill its statutory mission … and will likely improve its ability to function.”
“I look forward to taking additional steps in the coming months to improve the functioning of a very broken agency and make sure America’s voice is heard abroad where it matters most,” she wrote.
Plaintiffs’ attorney Georgina Yeomans argued Monday that the cuts would cement the agency’s programming at deficient levels that don’t comply with the judge’s orders. Yeomans said it’s unclear who at the agency is making key decisions, such as which jobs to eliminate.
“We simply do not know,” she said.
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