Overview

• The complaint filed May 27 in Washington, D.C., names President Trump, OMB Director Russell Vought, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and NEA Chair Maria Rosario Jackson as defendants.
• Plaintiffs argue the executive order directing the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and federal agencies to halt funding for NPR and PBS constitutes retaliatory, viewpoint-based discrimination in violation of the First Amendment.
• The suit claims the order usurps Congress’s exclusive power of the purse and contravenes statutes enacted to shield public broadcasters from political interference.
• NPR CEO Katherine Maher brands the order a “clear violation” of the Constitution and seeks an injunction blocking its enforcement alongside a declaration of its unconstitutionality.
• PBS has not joined the suit but is considering its own legal challenge while the CPB continues a separate case over Trump’s earlier attempt to remove its board members.