Royce C. Lamberth rebukes administration’s ‘hasty, indiscriminate approach’

Stephen Dinan | April 23, 2025

(The Washington Times) — A federal judge on Tuesday issued an injunction ordering the Trump administration to revive Voice of America, Radio Free Asia and the Middle East Broadcasting Networks, immediately rehire their employees and allow them back on the air.

Judge Royce C. Lamberth delivered a withering criticism of the Trump team’s efforts, saying they took a “hasty, indiscriminate approach” to cutting the U.S. Agency for Global Media and the news outlets it oversees, including VOA.

He said Congress funds USAGM and the outlets and allows only a little wiggle room for the president to tweak that spending. The government, he said, blasted through those lines as it sought to carry out President Trump’s executive order.

“In short, the defendants had no method or approach towards shutting down USAGM that this court can discern,” he ruled. “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,” Judge Lamberth said.

In his March executive order, Mr. Trump had labeled USAGM as an “unnecessary” part of the federal bureaucracy. He called for it to be “eliminated to the maximum extent consistent with applicable law.”

The White House then followed up, calling VOA the “voice of radical America” and said it was right to strip it of taxpayer funding.

USAGM shut down operations at VOA and the rest of its networks, placing more than 1,000 employees on leave. VOA has gone dark, and its website hasn’t been updated since March 15.

Court orders had previously put a halt to the employees’ terminations, but Judge Lamberth went further, ordering the three networks to be revived back to where they were, fully broadcasting and publishing as if before the president’s executive order.

Trump opponents cheered the ruling.

“Today’s ruling is a victory for the rule of law, for press freedom and journalistic integrity, and for democracy worldwide,” said Everett Kelley, national president of the American Federation of Government Employees.