Judge temporarily halts VOA layoffs in lawsuit hoping to void closure

• A federal judge issued a three-week halt on the Trump administration’s efforts to shut down Voice of America (VOA). The judge sided with employees who argued the closure violated journalistic freedom and separation of powers.

• The restraining order is part of broader legal challenges, including a separate suit filed by VOA Director Michael Abramowitz, as staff contend with directives to resign under Kari Lake’s leadership.

• Trump and Lake defended the closure, citing alleged inefficiencies and political bias within VOA and its parent organization, the U.S. Agency for Global Media.

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A federal judge on Friday, March 28, sided with Voice of America employees in granting a temporary restraining order halting President Donald Trump’s administration from shuttering the agency. 

Who issued the order?

U.S. District Court Judge J. Paul Oetken issued the order. The order blocks the administration from taking any further action to dismantle the international news outlet for three weeks. 

The lawsuit, filed on March 21 in the Southern District of New York, contends the administration violated both the freedom of journalists and the separation of powers when it put staff on paid leave and turned off the service.

“This is a decisive victory for press freedom and the First Amendment, and a sharp rebuke to an administration that has shown utter disregard for the principles that define our democracy,” attorney Andrew G. Celli Jr., who represents the journalists in the lawsuit, told The New York Times.

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The lawsuit isn’t the only legal effort to stop the shutdown of VOA and its international affiliates. Another suit, filed by VOA Director Michael Abramowitz, is pending.

VOA National Correspondent Steve Herman posted on Mastodon Friday that Kari Lake, the former Arizona gubernatorial and Senate candidate whom Trump tapped to be his liaison to VOA, directed staffers to respond to an email from human resources giving them 12 days to resign and be paid until the end of September.

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Legal battles

The order is one of a series of roadblocks for the administration’s efforts to streamline government and rid itself of taxpayer-funded political activities. Trump has contended that Voice of America and its affiliated outlets lean decidedly to the left in their content.

On March 15, Lake announced in a release that VOA’s parent organization, the U.S. Agency for Global Media, had begun the process to eliminate the non-statutory components and functions to the maximum extent” within the confinements of applicable laws.

“This agency is not salvageable,” Lake said.

USAGM did not immediately respond to a request for comment.