A federal appeals court on Saturday halted a ruling that had directed the Trump administration to reinstate over 1,000 Voice of America (VOA) employees to their jobs.
US District Judge Royce Lamberth had ordered the administration on April 22 to “take all necessary steps” to return employees and contractors to their positions at the US news service and to resume radio, television, and online news broadcasts, as well as certain grants.
In a 2-1 decision, the appeals court suggested that Lamberth lacked the authority to mandate the employees’ return to work and to require the restoration of $15 million in grants for Radio Free Asia and Middle East Broadcasting Networks.
The US Agency for Global Media had placed more than 1,000 employees on leave and informed 600 contractors of their termination following the agency’s abrupt shutdown of broadcasts in March under a directive from Trump.
The appeals court noted that the government did not contest the aspect of Lamberth’s ruling that required it to restore VOA’s “statutorily required programming levels.” Numerous reports on Friday indicated that VOA was preparing to resume broadcasts next week. USAGM did not immediately issue a comment on Saturday.
US Circuit Judge Cornelia Pillard dissented from the ruling, stating that it “all but guarantees that the networks will no longer exist in any meaningful form by the time this case is fully adjudicated.”
She further added that it would result in “silencing Voice of America for the foreseeable future and eliminating Radio Free Asia and Middle East Broadcasting Networks’ ability to see this case through to the end.”
Under Trump’s directive, VOA is not reporting the news for the first time in its 80-year history. Its website has remained unupdated since March 15, and radio stations abroad that depend on its programming have gone silent or are only broadcasting music.
Congress had made the broadcasts mandatory and did not permit the executive branch to unilaterally terminate or defund them, Lamberth had ruled.
Trump advisor Kari Lake announced the shutdown on March 15, placing nearly all USAGM employees on leave, asserting that the agency was “irretrievably broken” and biased against Trump. She stated on social media Saturday that the decision was a “huge victory for us.”
