WASHINGTON: A US federal judge has temporarily blocked the Trump administration’s plan to lay off more than 500 Voice of America employees.
The ruling on Monday suspended termination notices that were scheduled to take effect on September 30, marking the latest development in an ongoing legal battle over government-funded media.
Judge Royce Lamberth’s order specifically prohibited senior advisor Kari Lake from implementing the mass layoffs until the court rules on pending legal motions next month.
“The Reduction in Force announced by Defendant Lake on or about August 29, 2025, is SUSPENDED and may NOT be implemented until this Court has ruled on the plaintiffs’ Motion,“ Lamberth wrote in his 19-page order.
The court had previously issued a preliminary injunction in April after determining Lake’s actions were “arbitrary and capricious and not in accordance with law.”
Monday’s ruling was intended to facilitate that injunction and restore VOA’s programming so the US Agency for Global Media can fulfill its statutory mandate.
Hundreds of VOA employees had received termination notices in June following a Trump order that froze the outlet for the first time since its 1942 founding.
Lake described the layoffs as a “long-overcome effort to dismantle a bloated, unaccountable bureaucracy.”
The judge found that Lake and other defendants resisted court efforts to obtain information about their compliance plan with the April injunction.
“The Court no longer harbors any doubt that defendants lack a plan to comply with the preliminary injunction, and instead have been running out the clock on the fiscal year while remaining in violation of statutory obligations,“ Lamberth wrote.
USAGM was created during World War Two as an instrument of American soft power to promote democracy and counter propaganda overseas through entities including VOA, Radio Free Europe and Radio Free Asia.
President Trump has frequently attacked media outlets and criticized VOA’s editorial firewall, which prevents government intervention in coverage and which he considers too critical of his administration. – AFP