A U.S. appeals court in Washington has overturned the decision of lower courts regarding the continuation of Voice of America (VOA) operations. The decision was made despite attempts by U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration to shut down public broadcasters like VOA.
The Washington-based appellate court ruled by two votes to one, reversing earlier decisions from U.S. courts in Washington and New York made in March and April, which opposed the White House’s directive to cease VOA broadcasts.
Steve Herman, VOA’s chief correspondent in the U.S. and former White House correspondent, posted on X (formerly Twitter) that it is now “unlikely” that VOA journalists will return to work on May 5, as was initially expected.
The new head of the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM), Keri Lake, an ultra-conservative politician closely aligned with President Trump, hailed the ruling as “a major legal victory… and a huge win for President Trump.“
Earlier in the day, the non-governmental organization Reporters Without Borders and one VOA journalist stated that the U.S. Department of Justice informed them that the broadcaster could resume operations next week, according to Radio Free Europe (RFE).
VOA, which is funded by the U.S. government but has an international audience, suspended its operations after Trump ordered USAGM, which oversees VOA and other broadcasters such as Radio Free Europe, to reduce operations to a legal minimum. A Department of Justice attorney informed VOA’s lawyer David Siedow via email that USAGM expects VOA staff to gradually return to work, with broadcasts resuming next week.
In March, VOA filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration, claiming that the efforts to shut down the broadcaster were illegal.
Earlier in March, the Trump administration had placed VOA journalists on forced leave and began laying off reporters from VOA and several other public media outlets. However, the U.S. judiciary opposed these measures. In late March, a federal judge in New York was the first to block the decision to suspend the activities of these public broadcasters, followed by a similar decision from a federal judge in Washington in April.
