Overview

• The DOJ filed its complaint Tuesday in federal court in Washington, D.C., naming Laura Ross, Diane Kaplan and Tom Rothman as defendants and arguing they continued to serve unlawfully after their April removal notices.
• The suit challenges a CPB bylaw amendment adopted May 15 on the grounds that it could not retroactively block the president’s April firings.
• U.S. District Judge Randolph Moss previously denied the CPB’s injunction request but warned that the president could not override board autonomy under revised bylaws.
• President Trump is leveraging the lawsuit to pressure senators into rescinding $1.1 billion earmarked for public broadcasting over the next two years.
• The CPB maintains that its congressional charter bars the president from terminating board members without statutory authority.