District judge orders Trump administration to restore state media networks

U.S. district court judges have done their apparent best to hamstring the second Trump administration just as they had the first.

Between Jan. 20 and March 27, the Congressional Research Service indicated there were at least 17 cases of nationwide injunctions — 11 more than were issued during the entire presidency of George W. Bush and two shy of the total issued during Barack Obama's tenure. At this rate, the courts are on course to beat their previous record of 64 nationwide injunctions under the first Trump administration.

There has been no indication in recent weeks that the judiciary will exercise some self-restraint — certainly not from the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, where a Reagan judge decided on Tuesday to reverse the Trump administration's shuttering of Voice of America and termination of over 1,000 potentially antagonistic journalists and employees at the U.S. Agency for Global Media.

U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth concluded that the administration's stated effort to "ensure that taxpayers are no longer on the hook for radical propaganda" were "arbitrary and capricious."

'It has essentially become a hubris-filled rogue operation.'

"Not only is there an absence of 'reasoned analysis' from the defendants," wrote Lamberth, "there is an absence of any analysis whatsoever."

The judge overseeing Widakuswara v. Lake added, "The defendants are likely in direct violation of numerous federal laws," including the VOA's congressionally established charter in the International Broadcasting Act.

President Donald Trump signed an executive order on March 14 aimed at reducing various "unnecessary" elements of the federal bureaucracy "to the maximum extent consistent with applicable law." Among the entities targeted was the U.S. Agency for Global Media, which supervises Voice of America, the Office of Cuba Broadcasting, and a handful of other state-funded outfits including Radio Free Europe.

In a corresponding publication, the White House quoted Dan Robinson, a 34-year veteran of VOA, who stated last year:

I have monitored the agency’s bureaucracy along with many of its reporters and concluded that it has essentially become a hubris-filled rogue operation often reflecting a leftist bias aligned with partisan national media. It has sought to avoid accountability for violations of journalistic standards and mismanagement.

The White House also shared links to articles criticizing the state media outfit; a 2022 lawsuit claiming VOA has "been infiltrated by anti-American, pro-Islamic state interests"; and perceived evidence of VOA's bias, including an article downplaying the validity of the Hunter Biden laptop story.

'The defendants had no method or approach towards shutting down USAGM.'

Pursuant to the president's executive order, approximately over 1,000 VOA journalists and other employees were placed on administrative leave, and funding was suspended to VOA's sister networks, including Radio Free Asia.

Kari Lake, senior adviser for the USAGM, noted days later that VOA was "unsalvageable."

"Let's reduce this to the bare minimum and start fresh," tweeted Lake.

Lamberth was evidently of a different mind.

"The defendants had no method or approach towards shutting down USAGM that this Court can discern," he wrote in his Tuesday ruling. "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's for our own national security.'

"It is hard to fathom a more straightforward display of arbitrary and capricious actions than the Defendants' actions here," added the judge.

Lamberth ordered the administration to "take all necessary steps to return USAGM employees and contractors to their status" prior to Trump's March 14 EO; to restore VOA programming; and to restore fiscal year 2025 grants to Radio Free Asia and Middle East Broadcasting Networks. He also demanded that the administration provide him with monthly status reports "apprising the Court of the status of the defendants' compliance with this Order."

Lamberth's ruling contained echoes from Obama-appointed U.S. District Judge Paul Oetken of the Southern District of New York, who issued a temporary restraining order barring the USAGM from canning staff last month.

The Obama judge blasted the Trump administration for "taking a sledgehammer to an agency that has been statutorily authorized and funded by Congress."

Patsy Widakuswara, VOA's White House bureau chief and one of the plaintiffs in the suit, said of Lamberth's Tuesday order, "My colleagues and I are grateful for this ruling. But we know that this is just a small step forward, as the government is likely to appeal."

"This is not just about our jobs and journalistic freedom — it's for our own national security," continued Widakuswara. "Because every day that VOA is not broadcasting, is a day we cede the global information space and allow adversaries to fill it with disinformation and anti-American propaganda."

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