Court suspends Trump layoff of hundreds at Voice of America

WASHINGTON — A federal judge in Washington ordered the Trump administration on Monday to pause the layoffs of hundreds of employees from the agency that owns the U.S. news service Voice of America, adding that government officials had shown “concerning disrespect” for the court’s directives.

U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth halted the plan while he determines whether the U.S. Agency for Global Media complied with an injunction he issued in April that it “fulfills its statutory mandate that VOA serve as a consistently reliable and authoritative source of news.”

The layoffs would affect 532 jobs for full-time staff, representing most of the agency’s remaining employees. VOA broadcasts were abruptly shut down in March under an executive order from U.S. President Donald Trump.

Lamberth said in his written order that he “no longer harbors any doubt” that the defendants, which include the agency and its acting CEO Kari Lake, “lack a plan to comply with the preliminary injunction.”

Instead, they have “been running out the clock on the fiscal year while remaining in violation of even the most meager reading of USAGM and Voice of America’s statutory obligations,” he said.

“President Trump was elected to root out waste, fraud, and abuse across the federal government – including at Voice of America – and today, an activist judge attempted to subvert the will of the American people,” White House spokesperson Liz Huston said in a statement. “The Trump Administration will appeal this outrageous decision, and we are confident we will ultimately prevail in court.”

VOA employees who filed the lawsuit said in a statement that they were “extremely gratified” by the decision and “believe the wholesale silencing of VOA broadcasts and the removal of critical staff and expertise go against what Congress intended.”

President Lee Saunders of the public-sector union the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees — which is the case’s primary plaintiff and whose attorneys are representing the employees — called the decision “a major victory for Voice of America workers, including AFSCME members, and for those across the globe who depend on the work they do to access free and fair reporting.”

Trump, who clashed with VOA during his first term, picked Lake, a former news anchor, to be its director for his second. Lake, a staunch ally of the president, has often accused mainstream media of harboring anti-Trump bias.

Founded in 1942 to counter Nazi propaganda, VOA reached 360 million people a week in 2024, according to a USAGM report to Congress.

Lamberth, who was appointed by President Ronald Reagan, has been hearing a batch of lawsuits challenging the legality of Trump’s March executive order. The cases include one filed by Michael Abramowitz, VOA’s director.