Overview

• Judge Royce Lamberth issued a preliminary injunction requiring the Trump administration to reinstate funding and staff for Voice of America, Radio Free Asia, and Middle East Broadcasting Networks.
• The court found the administration's actions to dismantle the U.S. Agency for Global Media and its outlets were arbitrary, capricious, and lacked any reasoned analysis.
• The ruling emphasized that Congress, not the executive branch, controls appropriations, and the administration's cuts violated statutory and constitutional mandates.
• VOA, which had ceased operations for the first time in its 80-year history, must resume its programming to fulfill its mission of providing reliable news in regions lacking press freedom.
• The injunction does not apply to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and the Open Technology Fund, which remain subject to separate legal proceedings.