A U.S. federal judge has ordered the administration of President Donald Trump to restore operations at Voice of America (VOA), directing that more than 1,000 employees be brought back after a year of scaled-down broadcasting.
In a ruling issued Tuesday, March 17, U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth gave the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM) one week to present a plan to fully restart VOA, which had been reduced to minimal operations.
The decision reverses actions that sidelined 1,042 of VOA’s 1,147 employees, cutting the broadcaster down to what the administration described as the “statutory minimum.”
Lamberth said the moves were “arbitrary and capricious,” writing that the government failed to provide a clear legal basis and did not take into account federal requirements governing VOA’s operations.
“Defendants have provided nothing approaching a principled basis for their decision,” he wrote.
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The ruling builds on an earlier decision in which Lamberth found that Kari Lake, who oversaw the cuts at USAGM, lacked the legal authority to act in that capacity.
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The court said her appointment violated the Federal Vacancies Reform Act and the Constitution’s Appointments Clause, meaning actions taken under her leadership could not stand.
In the ruling, Lamberth said Lake had “repeatedly thumbed her nose” at statutory requirements, while the administration had “made no effort to defend the merits” of the downsizing.
The cuts had reduced VOA’s global output from 49 languages to just four, sharply limiting its reach to international audiences.
Staff, leadership respond
VOA Director Michael Abramowitz, who had been placed on leave alongside hundreds of employees, welcomed the ruling.
“We are thrilled with Judge Lamberth’s ruling and look forward to getting back to work,” he said, adding that the broadcaster remains critical in the current global environment.
Patsy Widakuswara, VOA’s White House bureau chief and a plaintiff in the case, said efforts would now focus on restoring operations and rebuilding the organisation’s credibility.
“We are eager to begin repairing the damage… and to rebuild the trust of the global audience we have been unable to serve for the past year,” she said.
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The ruling marks the latest setback for the Trump administration’s efforts to restructure government-funded media.
VOA, which operates under USAGM, had been targeted as part of a broader push to reduce its size and potentially integrate its functions more closely with the State Department.
Court findings had earlier invalidated a series of actions taken under Lake’s leadership, including job cuts affecting hundreds of employees.
Following those rulings, Trump nominated Sarah Rogers, a State Department official, to lead USAGM. The position requires Senate confirmation.
The court’s order requires USAGM to take immediate steps to restore VOA’s operations, including staffing and programming.
Before the cuts, VOA broadcast in dozens of languages to hundreds of millions of people globally, particularly in regions with limited press freedom.
