NPR Moves for Permanent Injunction To Protect Public Media Federal Funding.

National Public Radio and three of its Colorado-based member stations—Aspen Public Radio, Colorado Public Radio, and KSUT Public Radio—are suing President Trump and federal agencies over an executive order that they argue unlawfully cuts off their federal funding. The plaintiffs have filed a motion for summary judgment in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, seeking to invalidate Executive Order 14290, titled “Ending Taxpayer Subsidization of Biased Media.”

“Because the order is unlawful, plaintiffs respectfully request that the court declare that all actions by defendants implementing it also are unlawful,” says the motion, filed in Washington. The public broadcasters say that because the executive order “inflicts serious and irreparable injuries” on them, they also want the court to issue an injunction to permanently block the Trump administration from implementing or enforcing it.

The May 1 order instructs all federal agencies and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) to cease direct and indirect funding of NPR and PBS. According to the complaint and legal brief filed by NPR and the member stations, the order violates multiple constitutional provisions, including the First Amendment, the Fifth Amendment’s due process clause, and the constitutional separation of powers.

“The order is obvious in its viewpoint-discriminatory purpose and its retaliatory motive,” NPR and the other plaintiffs write in a brief filed with their lawsuit last month. “Expressly predicated on the President’s belief that NPR is ‘biased,’ the order aims to punish NPR for exercising its First Amendment rights and to stop public radio stations across the country from airing NPR news and other programming.”

The plaintiffs argue that the order exceeds the legal authority of the executive branch. Citing the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967, they emphasize that Congress deliberately insulated public media from government interference by creating CPB as an independent nonprofit entity.

“The President has no authority to issue that directive,” the plaintiffs assert. “Congress expressly denied authorization to any department, agency, officer, or employee of the United States to exercise any direction, supervision, or control over the Corporation or any of its grantees or contractors.”

Under the Public Broadcasting Act, CPB receives federal appropriations that it distributes to local public radio and television stations based on a content-neutral formula. Local stations may use these Community Service Grants (CSGs) to acquire programming, including NPR content. The plaintiffs note that the executive order attempts to rewrite these statutory obligations by prohibiting local stations from using their grants to license NPR programming.

NPR receives about 31% of its annual revenue—approximately $100 million—from member station fees, some of which are paid using CPB grants. In fiscal year 2024, NPR also received $6.8 million in CPB funds to operate the Public Radio Satellite System (PRSS), which distributes programming and emergency alerts to stations across the U.S., including rural and remote communities.

The lawsuit emphasizes that the order not only threatens NPR's financial stability but could also jeopardize critical emergency communications infrastructure. According to the brief, if PRSS funding lapses, the system “will cease operations and the resulting effects will be catastrophic.”

Federal agencies have already begun acting on the order. On May 2, the day after it was issued, the National Endowment for the Arts terminated a grant to NPR. Plaintiffs argue this demonstrates the immediate and ongoing harm of the executive action.

“The Order inflicts permanent, irreparable harm on NPR, its Local Member Stations, and the tens of millions of Americans across the country who rely on public radio,” the brief states. “Preventing these harms unquestionably serves the public interest.”

NPR and the member stations are asking the court to declare the executive order unlawful, enjoin all agencies (except President Trump personally) from implementing or enforcing it, and affirm that the CPB and NEA may not withhold funding on the basis of the order.

A hearing on the motion is expected following the close of briefing in August.