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US judge temporarily blocks Trump administration from firing Voice of America staff

2025-03-29 16:39:13Kosova&Bota SHKRUAR NGA REDAKSIA VOX

US judge temporarily blocks Trump administration from firing Voice of America

A federal judge in the US has ordered President Donald Trump's administration to temporarily halt efforts to shut down Voice of America, preventing the government from firing 1,300 journalists and other employees of the US news service who were abruptly suspended from their jobs this month.

U.S. District Judge J. Paul Oetken ruled that the Trump administration cannot shut down the Voice of America and its other programs, such as radio, that were approved and funded by Congress. Withdrawing funding for those programs would require congressional approval, the judge said.

Oetken did not require VOA to resume broadcasting, but his order made clear that employees should not be fired until further judicial proceedings could determine whether the shutdown was “arbitrary and irresponsible” and in violation of federal law.

“This is a decisive victory for press freedom and the First Amendment, and a harsh rebuke to an administration that has shown disrespect for the principles that define our democracy,” said Andrew Celli, an attorney for the plaintiffs.

The US Agency for Global Media, which oversees Voice of America, Radio Free Europe and other government-funded media, did not respond to a request for comment, Reuters reports.

The agency had told unions that it was planning to lay off 623 Voice of America employees, a number that "completely thwarts" any effort to resume broadcasting at the level that was envisioned by Congress, according to court documents filed by the plaintiffs.

Voice of America was founded to combat Nazi propaganda at the height of World War II and has grown into an international media broadcaster, operating in more than 40 languages ​​and spreading U.S. news narratives to countries that lack a free press.

As a group, the US Agency for Global Media employed about 3,500 employees with a budget of $886 million in 2024, according to its latest report to Congress.

Voice of America journalists and their unions sued the US Agency for Global Media, its interim director Victor Morales, and Special Counsel Kari Lake last week, saying the service's closure violated the employees' constitutional rights to free speech, guaranteed by the First Amendment.

The lawsuit by VOA employees is one of four open challenges to the Trump administration's effort to shut down government-funded media programs. Other challenges have been filed by Radio Free Europe, a separate group of VOA employees and a grantee of the Open Technology Fund.

The US Agency for Global Media has argued that it did not violate laws governing the operation of Voice of America. The agency said in court documents that it had reduced operations to a “legal minimum” by resuming broadcasts in Cuba and returning 33 employees to the Cuba Broadcasting Office. /Reuters


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