Latest news with #RoyceLamberth
American Military News
10-05-2025
- Politics
- American Military News
In emergency ruling, US Appeals Court reverses halt to funding for Radio Free Europe
This article was originally published by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and is reprinted with permission. A US appeals court issued a ruling that advances efforts by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) to secure congressionally mandated funds it sorely needs to keep operations going in the coming weeks, pausing a decision delivered just hours earlier by a three-judge panel of the same new ruling, issued late on May 7 by the full 11-judge bench of the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, imposed an 'administrative stay' on the panel's decision to put on hold a lower court's ruling in the case, which pits RFE/RL against its overseer, the US Agency for Global Media (USAGM).RFE/RL has sued USAGM to release frozen budget funds for the second half of the current fiscal year, from April through April 29, US District Judge Royce Lamberth granted RFE/RL a temporary restraining order, ruling that Congress 'ordained that the monies at issue should be allocated to RFE/RL' and that President Donald Trump signed the budget resolution appropriating those funds. His decision ordered payment to be made to RFE/RL for April, about $12 May 7, however, the three-judge appeals court panel issued a 2-1 ruling staying Lamberth's order pending appeal, decreasing RFE/RL's chances of receiving the April funding anytime soon and putting its already substantially scaled-back operations deeper into later, though, the full 11-member court responded to an emergency petition from RFE/RL and imposed a pause on the panel's ruling 'pending further order of the court.'In its decision, which also covered other suits involving USAGM, the court emphasized that the stay was meant to give it 'sufficient opportunity to consider the emergency petitions and should not be construed in any way as a ruling on the merits of those petitions.'The ruling, by a 7-4 vote with the court's four Republican-appointed judges dissenting, means that USAGM must comply with Judge Lamberth's April 29 order to pay RFE/ the latest administrative stay is not the court's final ruling, USAGM can appeal it to the US Supreme Court, which could consider the case or decline to do is a private, independent international news organization whose programs on multiple platforms reach a weekly audience of nearly 50 million people in 23 countries, including Russia, Ukraine, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and the nations of Central Asia and the has been locked in a legal fight with the USAGM since March 14, when Trump signed an executive order calling for the reduction of USAGM and the broadcasters it oversees – including the Voice of America (VOA), which unlike RFE/RL is a federal entity — to 'the maximum extent consistent with applicable law.' Deprived of funding for April and beyond, RFE/RL has continued to broadcast and publish, but has taken drastic cost-cutting measures to stretch its dwindling savings, including placing hundreds of staffers on furlough and canceling many freelance contracts.
Epoch Times
04-05-2025
- Business
- Epoch Times
US Appeals Court Halts Order Allowing Voice of America Employees Back to Work
A U.S. appeals court on Saturday blocked a lower court ruling that ordered the Trump administration to return 1,000 Voice of America staffers back to work amid efforts to downsize the federal government. In a 2–1 Late last month, U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth issued an The U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM), which oversees the media agencies, placed more than 1,000 employees on leave and told 600 contractors they would be terminated after the agency shut down broadcasts in March under a directive from President Donald Trump. In their Saturday order, appeals court judges Neomi Rao and Gregory Katsas ruled in the government's favor. 'While USAGM's employees and contractors might have viable, discrete claims with respect to their individual personnel actions, those claims must be pursued through other remedial channels,' the judges wrote in their 39-page order. Related Stories 5/3/2025 5/3/2025 The duo added that 'of course, we recognize that the public has an interest in the Executive Branch's compliance with congressional mandates' but added that 'the public has an interest in the Judicial Branch's respect for the jurisdictional boundaries laid down by Congress.' 'We must respect those boundaries no less than the substantive and appropriations provisions governing the operation of USAGM,' they wrote. Meanwhile, appeals court Judge Cornelia Pillard dissented, saying that 'the purpose of a stay pending appeal is to maintain the status quo until a case can be fully adjudicated on its merits.' 'This stay does the opposite, 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,' Pillard wrote. Trump adviser Kari Lake, a former Republican Arizona Senate and gubernatorial candidate, announced the shutdown on March 15, placing nearly all USAGM employees on leave, saying the agency was 'irretrievably broken.' 'BIG WIN in our legal cases at USAGM & Voice of America. Huge victory for President Trump and Article II,' Lake wrote in a In the order on April 22, Lambeth had written that he believes VOA and other agencies under USAGM serve as 'consistently reliable and authoritative' news sources. He argued that the government acted 'without regard to the harm inflicted on employees, contractors, journalists, and media consumers around the world.' 'In short, the defendants had no method or approach towards shutting down USAGM that this Court can discern,' he wrote. '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 [executive order].' Meanwhile, Trump has long been critical of media entities that receive government funding, including NPR and PBS. The White House previously has An article released by the administration included reports and accounts that it says shows VOA has been effectively overrun by leftist partisans or bowed to pressure from foreign governments, including Russia and China. The appeals court order on Saturday was in response to a lawsuit that was filed by VOA employees against the Trump administration. They had 'The VOA Journalists have devoted their careers to helping to build USAGM's networks into a credible media force with global audiences in the hundreds of millions,' the filing said, in part. It added, 'What is happening to the VOA Journalists is not just the chilling of First Amendment speech; it is a government shutdown of journalism, a prior restraint that kills content before it can be created.' Reuters contributed to this report.
Yahoo
04-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
VOA reporters' return to work unclear after court blocks injunction
The Voice of America (VOA) reporters' plan to return to work next week is up in the air after an appeals court issued a stay on Saturday, halting a late April order from a district judge that prevented the administration from dismantling the international broadcaster. The court, in a 2-1 opinion, ruled that the federal government is likely to succeed on the underlying facts of the case and that district court judge Royce Lamberth likely lacked 'subject-matter' jurisdiction to shoot down parts of President Trump's mid-March executive order regarding the expenditure of government grants and personnel actions. The ruling dealt a blow to VOA staffers, who were notified on Friday that they could resume broadcasting and return to their office in Washington the following week. One VOA employee, speaking on condition of anonymity, described it as 'devastating.' In the Saturday order, judges Neomi Rao and Gregory Katsas, both Trump appointees, ruled in the government's favor. 'While USAGM's employees and contractors might have viable, discrete claims with respect to their individual personnel actions, those claims must be pursued through other remedial channels,' the duo said in the 39-page order. Cornelia Pillard, the third judge on the panel, who was appointed by former President Obama, dissented. 'The purpose of a stay pending appeal is to maintain the status quo until a case can be fully adjudicated on its merits. This stay does the opposite, 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,' Pillard wrote. Kari Lake, a former Arizona gubernatorial candidate, who serves as a senior adviser to the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM), which oversees VOA, applauded the appeals court's decision. 'BIG WIN in our legal cases at USAGM & Voice of America. Huge victory for President Trump and Article II,' Lake wrote in a post on the social media platform X. 'Turns out the District Court judge will not be able to manage the agency as he seemed to want to.' The Hill has reached out to USAGM for clarity on the court's decision. The Department of Justice (DOJ) on Friday notified attorneys representing VOA workers that they could go back to the office and resume work, which has been paused for nearly two months, next week. 'USAGM currently expects staff to begin to return to the office next week, as security, building space, and equipment issues require a phased return,' said an email from DOJ to lawyers representing VOA staffers late Friday, which was obtained by The Hill. 'With respect to VOA programming, as mentioned above, all VOA staff should now have system access. USAGM anticipates VOA programming to resume next week. In the interim, staff at OCB will assist and help getting programming on the air,' Assistant U.S. Attorney Brenda González Horowitz said in an email to VOA lawyer David Seide. The return to programming would mark nearly two months after President Trump's executive order, which was rolled out on March 14, sought to dismantle seven federal agencies, including USAGM, that in addition to overseeing VOA, also dishes out government funds to outlets such as Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and Radio Free Asia. Trump and his allies have long-criticized VOA, a government-funded international outlet founded in 1942 that broadcasts in nearly 50 languages. The president and his supporters have often contended that the outlet's coverage is unfair to conservatives. The push to permanently shut down VOA was slowed down in court, however. Lamberth, the district court judge, ruled on April 22 that the administration's push to terminate VOA and its affiliated newscasters was unlawful and ordered USAGM to restore the international outlet, along with other news services within the agency's portfolio. '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,' Lamberth, an appointee of former President Reagan, wrote in last month's order about the administration. 'It is hard to fathom a more straightforward display of arbitrary and capricious actions than the Defendants' actions here,' Lamberth added. Some VOA reporters have had their access fully restored as of Saturday, one source briefed on the matter told The Hill. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
The Hill
03-05-2025
- Business
- The Hill
VOA reporters' return to work unclear after court blocks injunction
The Voice of America (VOA) reporters' plan to return to work next week is up in the air after an appeals court issued a stay on Saturday, halting a late April order from a district judge that prevented the administration from dismantling the international broadcaster. The court, in a 2-1 opinion, ruled that the federal government is likely to succeed on the underlying facts of the case and that district court judge Royce Lamberth likely lacked 'subject-matter' jurisdiction to shoot down parts of President Trump's mid-March executive order regarding the expenditure of government grants and personnel actions. The ruling dealt a blow to VOA staffers, who were notified on Friday that they could resume broadcasting and return to their office in Washington the following week. One VOA employee, speaking on condition of anonymity, described it as 'devastating.' In the Saturday order, judges Neomi Rao and Gregory Katsas, both Trump appointees, ruled in the government's favor. 'While USAGM's employees and contractors might have viable, discrete claims with respect to their individual personnel actions, those claims must be pursued through other remedial channels,' the duo said in the 39-page order. Cornelia Pillard, the third judge on the panel, who was appointed by former President Obama, dissented. 'The purpose of a stay pending appeal is to maintain the status quo until a case can be fully adjudicated on its merits. This stay does the opposite, 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,' Pillard wrote. Kari Lake, a former Arizona gubernatorial candidate, who serves as a senior adviser to the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM), which oversees VOA, applauded the appeals court's decision. 'BIG WIN in our legal cases at USAGM & Voice of America. Huge victory for President Trump and Article II,' Lake wrote in a post on the social media platform X. 'Turns out the District Court judge will not be able to manage the agency as he seemed to want to.' The Hill has reached out to USAGM for clarity on the court's decision. The Department of Justice (DOJ) on Friday notified attorneys representing VOA workers that they could go back to the office and resume work, which has been paused for nearly two months, next week. 'USAGM currently expects staff to begin to return to the office next week, as security, building space, and equipment issues require a phased return,' said an email from DOJ to lawyers representing VOA staffers late Friday, which was obtained by The Hill. 'With respect to VOA programming, as mentioned above, all VOA staff should now have system access. USAGM anticipates VOA programming to resume next week. In the interim, staff at OCB will assist and help getting programming on the air,' Assistant U.S. Attorney Brenda González Horowitz said in an email to VOA lawyer David Seide. The return to programming would mark nearly two months after President Trump's executive order, which was rolled out on March 14, sought to dismantle seven federal agencies, including USAGM, that in addition to overseeing VOA, also dishes out government funds to outlets such as Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and Radio Free Asia. Trump and his allies have long-criticized VOA, a government-funded international outlet founded in 1942 that broadcasts in nearly 50 languages. The president and his supporters have often contended that the outlet's coverage is unfair to conservatives. The push to permanently shut down VOA was slowed down in court, however. Lamberth, the district court judge, ruled on April 22 that the administration's push to terminate VOA and its affiliated newscasters was unlawful and ordered USAGM to restore the international outlet, along with other news services within the agency's portfolio. '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,' Lamberth, an appointee of former President Reagan, wrote in last month's order about the administration. 'It is hard to fathom a more straightforward display of arbitrary and capricious actions than the Defendants' actions here,' Lamberth added. Some VOA reporters have had their access fully restored as of Saturday, one source briefed on the matter told The Hill.
The Guardian
03-05-2025
- Business
- The Guardian
Voice of America to resume airing after court halts Trump's dismantling of broadcaster
Voice of America (VoA), the US-taxpayer funded news service for overseas listeners, could be back on the air as soon as next week, after a federal appeals court granted a temporary stay on an executive order dismantling the broadcaster. VoA was effectively shut down after Trump signed an order on 14 March dismantling or shrinking seven agencies including the US Agency for Global Media (USAGM). The USAGM is an independent government agency that oversees VoA and distributes congressionally appropriated funds to several non-profit broadcasters which provide news and information in almost 50 languages in countries with limited or no access to independent media sources. After nearly every affected network sued, US district judge Royce Lamberth, a Ronald Reagan appointee, granted a preliminary injunction in late April, ruling that the executive order was arbitrary and likely exceeded the president's authority. The Department of Justice appealed. On Thursday, a Washington DC federal appeals court, which included two Trump appointees, partly upheld the lower court ruling that will enable VoA to resume broadcasting while the appeal plays out. VoA staff can begin a 'phased return' to the office and resume programming next week, according to an email from the justice department shared with the Washington Post. Some VoA and USAGM staff have had access to their government email accounts restored. But the latest court ruling was bad news for the other publicly funded broadcasters. The Trump administration's freeze on congressionally approved funds for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Radio Free Asia and Middle East Broadcasting Networks will remain in place while the lawsuit makes its way through the court. While VoA is a federal entity, the other broadcasters are private non-profit organizations. The funding freeze has already forced them to make staffing cuts and reduce content. Sign up to This Week in Trumpland A deep dive into the policies, controversies and oddities surrounding the Trump administration after newsletter promotion The USAGA had, until now, enjoyed bipartisan support, due to the vital role VoA and the other foreign-news broadcasters play in advancing democracy and US interests by reaching about 360 million people in countries that have little to no independent press. The Guardian has contacted both the USAGA and VoA for comment.
