Judge Blocks Trump E-O Ending PBS, NPR Funding

NPR's Katherine Maher

A federal judge on Tuesday ruled a central part of President Trump’s May 1, 2025 executive order targeting NPR and PBS unconstitutional and issued a permanent injunction blocking the administration from denying federal funds based on editorial viewpoint.

U.S. District Judge Randolph Moss wrote the order — titled “Ending Taxpayer Subsidization of Biased Media” — “singles out two speakers and, on the basis of their speech, bars them from all federally funded programs,” calling the action unlawful viewpoint discrimination and retaliation in violation of the First Amendment. He quoted a 2024 Supreme Court decision, saying the government may not use “the power of the purse … to punish or suppress disfavored expression.”

The injunction prevents the administration from implementing the funding ban while the litigation proceeds, but it does not automatically restore funding already cut by Congress or agencies. Last summer, Republicans in Congress rescinded federal support for public media despite protests from advocates. Separately, the Department of Education in May 2025 canceled a $23 million grant for educational TV tied to the executive order — a move the judge’s ruling now calls unlawful and that could affect future agency decisions.

NPR CEO Katherine Maher called the ruling “a decisive affirmation of the rights of a free and independent press” and said the court made clear the government cannot use funding to influence or penalize the press. The decision could open the door to future federal grants to public broadcasters that receive agency funding, though any restoration or new funding remains subject to further legal and political decisions.