Courts and Executive Power

Federal Judge Royce C. Lamberth ordered the U.S. Agency for Global Media to return 1,042 full‑time Voice of America employees to work and nullified nearly all Trump‑era actions that sought to shutter VOA, finding the administration had flagrantly disregarded Congress’s directive to maintain VOA news operations presenting a variety of voices. The ruling reversed personnel reassignments and other moves — including contract cancellations, steep cuts to language services and a proposed content deal with One America News Network — as arbitrary and capricious and is likely to prompt further legal and internal fights over VOA’s independence.