Voice of America Gets Court-Ordered Comeback After Trump Shutdown

Voice of America (VoA) is back on the air, thanks to a federal judge who hit pause on the Trump administration's attempt to pull the plug on the storied news outlet. Judge Royce Lamberth issued a preliminary injunction on Tuesday, ordering the restoration of VoA and halting the White House's earlier move to dismantle the agency. The administration, however, still has the option to appeal the ruling.

The legal battle kicked off after the Trump administration put roughly 1,300 VoA employees on administrative leave and terminated the contracts of about 500 contractors. The plaintiffs urged the court to not only reverse these orders but also stop further dismantling of VoA and restore its full operational capacity. Nothing like a mass layoff to inspire a good old-fashioned lawsuit, right?

President Trump had issued an executive order in March, targeting VoA over what he called biased reporting. The order was sweeping, aiming to eliminate the non-statutory elements of VoA, its parent United States Agency for Global Media, and even Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. According to a senior White House official, VoA had allegedly become "out of step with America" and was accused of spreading divisive propaganda.

The drama continued when VoA staffers filed suit against the Trump administration and Kari Lake, who serves as a special advisor to the agency. Their lawsuit argued that the shutdown left parts of the world with a gaping hole where objective news used to be, now filled only by tightly controlled state media.

The suit didn't mince words, accusing the Trump administration of taking a "chainsaw" to the agency and trying to shut it down entirely. With the judge's latest order, VoA is set to resume its role as a government-funded broadcaster—at least for now, while the appeals process looms.