Judge Halts Trump’s Effort to Dismantle Voice of America

A Federal Judge has temporarily blocked the Trump administration’s attempt to shut down the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM), which oversees Voice of America (VOA). 

The ruling followed a lawsuit by VOA journalists and unions, who argued that the shutdown—initiated by Trump’s executive order and led by adviser Kari Lake—violated the First Amendment and congressional funding authority. The order had furloughed 1,300 VOA employees and cut 550 contractors, aiming to dismantle what Trump called “propaganda.” Oetken’s decision halted the cuts, citing insufficient justification, and echoed a prior ruling protecting RFE/RL funding. The temporary restraining order preserves VOA’s operations for now, pending further litigation, amid debates over its role in countering global disinformation.

Kari Lake

During a 90-minute hearing Friday, Judge J Paul Oetken called the administration’s actions a “classic case” of arbitrary policymaking. He argued that the USAGM leadership, including Lake and acting CEO Victor Morales, lacked sufficient justification to override congressional intent with what amounted to a one-sentence rationale tied to Trump’s executive order. 

The order prevented the administration from firing hundreds of contractors (set to occur on March 31) and from targeting the 900 employees on leave for a reduction in force, at least temporarily.

This ruling followed a similar decision on March 26, when U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lamberth in Washington, D.C., granted RFE/RL a temporary restraining order against its funding cuts, forcing the administration to disburse $7.5 million it had frozen. 

Together, these judicial interventions underscored a legal pushback against Trump’s strategy, supported by Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), to shrink federal agencies deemed non-essential. Critics, including VOA director Michael Abramowitz, who filed a separate suit on March 26, decried the shutdown as an attack on a vital tool of U.S. soft power, especially amid rising global disinformation from adversaries like China and Russia.