Judge Halts Trump Administration’s Voice Of America Layoffs.

A federal judge has ordered the Trump administration to pause sweeping layoffs at the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM), the parent organization of Voice of America (VOA), issuing a strongly worded ruling that accused officials of statutory violations and judicial defiance.

U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth’s 19-page ruling issued Monday blocks acting USAGM CEO Kari Lake from proceeding with the termination of 532 employees — most of the agency’s workforce — which had been scheduled for Tuesday. The layoffs are part of a broader restructuring that has drawn legal challenges from VOA journalists and public scrutiny.

In the ruling, Lamberth, a Reagan appointee, condemned the administration’s “disrespect” for the court, warning that its repeated disregard of earlier court orders could lead to contempt proceedings.

“The defendants’ obfuscation of this Court’s request for information regarding whether their RIF [reduction in force] plans comported with the preliminary injunction has wasted precious judicial time and resources and readily support contempt proceedings,” Lamberth wrote. While he noted that plaintiffs had not yet sought contempt proceedings, he emphasized that “deference to the plaintiffs... should not be mistaken for lenience toward the defendants’ egregious erstwhile conduct.”

The judge criticized Lake’s actions since her appointment, including her decision to cancel USAGM’s 15-year lease in March and her assertion that the agency should be reduced “to the bare minimum and start fresh.” The layoffs, he said, would “cement” the agency’s failure to meet its legal mandate to deliver reliable global news coverage.

Lamberth pointed to multiple statutory failures by the agency, including shutting down congressionally mandated language services and drastically reducing VOA’s international news presence. He cited VOA’s admission that its “radio presence” had shrunk to a single 30-minute daily broadcast in Dari and Pashto, leaving significant coverage gaps in regions such as North Korea and China.

In a particularly pointed exchange, Lake, under oath, admitted she hadn’t “given it a lot of thought” whether Africa qualifies as a “significant region of the world” under U.S. law. She also confirmed that VOA currently produces no programming for South America.

An April preliminary injunction in the case had already ordered the administration to “restore VOA programming” to ensure it served as “a consistently reliable and authoritative source of news.” However, Lamberth concluded in Monday’s ruling that the government had no real plan to comply.

“The court no longer harbors any doubt that defendants lack a plan to comply with the preliminary injunction and instead have been running out the clock on the fiscal year while remaining in violation of even the most meager reading” of statutory obligations, he wrote.

Lamberth further rejected the administration’s attempt to separate non-VOA staff from the scope of the layoffs, noting that the reduction in force notices covered both VOA and USAGM employees.