A federal judge has blocked a new wave of terminations at Voice of America (VOA), delivering a sharp rebuke to senior adviser Kari Lake and the Trump administration for what he described as conduct that could have justified civil contempt proceedings.
In a 19-page ruling, U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth halted the mass reduction in force at the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM), warning the cuts would “cement” the agency’s failure to meet its legal obligations to provide reliable news programming worldwide. The judge detailed several statutory violations, including the shutdown of mandated language services despite clear congressional directives.
Lamberth noted that VOA’s radio presence in Afghanistan, for example, had been reduced to a single 30-minute daily broadcast in Dari and Pashto, while significant coverage gaps existed for countries like North Korea and China.
The judge singled out Lake, who he noted admitted under oath that she had not “given it a lot of thought” whether Africa qualifies as a “significant region of the world” under the law. He also noted her confirmation that VOA produces no programming for South America.
Lamberth accused the administration of misleading the court, stating it was “incredible” to suggest the staff reduction was “uncertain” when evidence showed it was already in progress. He described Lake and her team as “thumbing their noses at Congress’s commands” and showing a “brazen disinterest” in their statutory duties.
This conduct, along with a failure to produce court-ordered documents about future layoffs, prompted the judge’s warning about contempt. “Equity is allergic to rigidity,” Lamberth wrote, emphasizing the court’s power to halt executive overreach.
The order preserves the agency’s workforce until at least October 14, by which time Lake and her team must submit a detailed plan to restore legally required programming.
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