VOA headquarters in Washington, 17 March 2025. Photo: EPA-EFE/SHAWN THEW
A US federal appeals court temporarily halted two lower court decisions on Saturday which had ordered the Trump administration to resume funding Voice of America (VOA) and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), Reuters has reported.
A three-judge panel in Washington issued “an administrative stay” pausing US District Judge Royce Lambeth’s 22 April decision, which required the Trump administration to “take all necessary steps” to return VOA employees to work and resume VOA’s digital and web-based news reporting. The decision renews concerns about these both organisations’ immediate and long-term future.
On Thursday, the same panel also issued a stay in a similar, but separate case involving RFE/RL, in order to give “sufficient opportunity” to hear emergency motions from US Justice Department lawyers representing the Trump administration.
According to RFE/RL, the decisions are subject to appeal, which would be heard by a fuller panel of the DC appeals court. The three-judge panel consists of two judges appointed by Trump during his first term and a third appointed by former president Barack Obama.
RFE/RL, VOA and other organisations like Radio Free Asia have been engaged in legal battles with the Trump administration since mid-March, when the Trump-run US Agency for Global Media (USAGM) terminated a federal grant that had funded the broadcasters for nearly 80 years.
VOA has not broadcast since then, though RFE/RL has continued its work while furloughing dozens of employees and revoking freelance contracts. Prior to Saturday’s ruling, VOA staffers had been told in a Friday evening email that they would resume work the following week, the Washington Post reported.
On Saturday, Kari Lake, the Trump-appointed head of USAGM, celebrated the legal rulings, taking to X to call the decisions a “BIG WIN” and “huge victory”.
VOA is the largest and oldest US international broadcaster, and previously produced digital, TV and radio content in 48 languages. Prague-based RFE/RL, which has sought alternative financial support from the European Union, reaches a weekly audience of nearly 50 million people in 23 countries, including Russia, Ukraine and the republics of Central Asia and the Caucasus.
