Order Ensures USAGM And Its Networks, Including Voice Of America, Can Continue Their Critical Work While The Case Proceeds.
NEW YORK, N.Y. — Today, in a significant ruling for press freedom and government accountability, a federal judge granted a temporary restraining order blocking the Trump administration’s effort to dismantle the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM) and silence Voice of America (VOA) and its grantee networks.
Earlier this week, journalists, federal workers, and their unions asked a federal court to immediately block the Trump-Vance administration’s unlawful and unconstitutional dismantling of USAGM and its networks. The emergency motion for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction, filed in the Southern District of New York, sought to halt the ongoing harms on the agency’s workforce, its global audience, and the freedom of the press.
The court found the administration’s actions–abruptly shuttering USAGM, locking out journalists, canceling grants, and ending broadcasts–to be unlawful and described the administration’s move as arbitrary and capricious, stating that the executive branch acted without legal authority and in violation of congressional mandates.
The lawsuit was filed by VOA journalists, global press freedom advocates, and multiple labor unions, including the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), The NewsGuild-CWA, the American Foreign Service Association (AFSA), and Reporters Sans Frontieres (RSF). Democracy Forward represents AFGE, AFSCME, The NewsGuild-CWA, and AFSA.
“This decision affirms a critical constitutional principle: the President cannot unilaterally shut down an agency created by Congress,” said Robin Thurston, Legal Director at Democracy Forward. “ The court recognized what was at stake: separation of powers and the rule of law, and stepped in to stop an unlawful and unprecedented overreach from this administration.”
Read the motion here and the decision here.
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