A federal judge on Tuesday temporarily blocked President Trump’s push to close down Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, a federally funded news organization that was born out of the American efforts to counter Soviet propaganda during the Cold War.
The judge, Royce C. Lamberth of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, issued a temporary restraining order, saying that the Trump administration cannot unilaterally shut down RFE/RL, even if the president has ordered the closure.
Judge Lamberth said the administration cannot overrule Congress, which gave the news outlet a statutory mandate to promote the freedom of opinion and expression, with “one sentence of reasoning offering virtually no explanation.”
Judge Lamberth was referring to a March 15 letter to RFE/RL from the Trump administration that said the broadcaster was no longer needed as the government’s priorities had shifted. The letter did not elaborate, other than citing Mr. Trump’s directives to shut down federal agencies.
The temporary restraining order will allow RFE/RL to stay open at least until March 28. After that, Judge Lamberth would decide whether to issue a preliminary injunction that would allow the news outlet to continue operating until the court reaches a final verdict.
Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty were founded in the 1950s as a U.S. intelligence operation covertly funded through the Central Intelligence Agency. The broadcaster sought to foment anti-communist dissent behind the Iron Curtain.
Since the early 1970s, it has been funded by Congress and has had editorial independence. Today RFE/RL reports in nearly 30 different languages, reaching 47 million people every week in 23 countries, including Afghanistan, Russia and Hungary.
“The court concludes, in keeping with Congress’s longstanding determination, that the continued operation of RFE/RL is in the public interest,” Judge Lamberth wrote.
Judge Lamberth was appointed by President Ronald Reagan.
His ruling partly blocks the Trump administration’s push to shut down the news organization’s parent agency, the U.S. Agency for Global Media, which oversaw five federally funded news networks including Voice of America.
The letter to RFE/RL was sent a day after Mr. Trump signed an executive order dismantling the media agency, as an effort to terminate nearly $7.5 million in grants. The news organization is a private nonprofit that receives most of its funding from the federal government.
“The award no longer effectuates agency priorities,” the letter said.
Judge Lamberth wrote on Tuesday that the letter did not provide sufficient explanation for why the congressionally-established news outlet needed to be shut down in such a unilateral fashion.
The officials at the Trump administration “have acted arbitrarily and capriciously,” he wrote. “The ‘explanation’ offered by U.S.A.G.M. can scarcely be characterized as an explanation.”
The letter was signed by Kari Lake, a special adviser at the agency who appears to be leading the push to gut it. Ms. Lake, who was hired in February, is a former Senate candidate and local news anchor who peddled false claims that the 2020 election was rigged.
Ms. Lake was initially named in December to be the next director of Voice of America by Mr. Trump. She was hired as the media agency’s special adviser instead, as legal experts questioned whether Mr. Trump would be able to fire Voice of America’s current director.
Her appointment stoked fears that the Trump administration would meddle in the editorial decisions of federally funded news organizations. The global media agency has also opened investigations into its journalists for reporting on criticisms of Mr. Trump or making comments that were perceived as critical of him.
During his first term, Mr. Trump attacked the media outlets under the global media agency over their editorial decisions, and his appointees were accused of trying to weaken journalistic safeguards.
In 2020, Mr. Trump appointed Michael Pack, an ally of his former aide Stephen K. Bannon, to run the media agency.
Mr. Pack was accused of trying to turn Voice of America into a mouthpiece for the Trump administration, and a federal judge ruled that Mr. Pack had violated the First Amendment rights of the outlet’s journalists. A federal investigation later found that Mr. Pack had grossly mismanaged the media agency, repeatedly abusing his power by sidelining executives he felt did not sufficiently support Mr. Trump.
On Monday, Mr. Trump withdrew the nomination of L. Brent Bozell III, a conservative media critic and fierce defender of Israel, to lead the media agency. He instead named Mr. Bozell as the next U.S. ambassador to South Africa.
