Judge Orders Voice of America Employees and Broadcast Restored

The US Agency for Global Media and Voice of America must bring back staff that it placed on administrative leave and restore its broadcasts, a federal judge ruled, finding the Trump administration’s efforts to downsize the agency were unlawful.

The efforts undertaken in March 2025 as part of the administration’s push to reduce the size of the government were in violation of the Administrative Procedure Act, Judge Royce C. Lamberth said Tuesday.

No later than March 23, all roughly 1,000 employees placed on administrative leave shall return to work, Lamberth said.

The independent agency was established by Congress to broadcast US objectives throughout the world, including on issues like respect for human rights and freedom of religion, and is required to broadcast in areas of the world like North Korea, Iran, and parts of the former Soviet Union.

Lamberth found no evidence that the government is meeting that mandate, saying “following the defendants’ flagrant and nearly year-long refusal to do so in this case, the Court will grant the plaintiffs partial summary judgment” on a related claim.

“After clearing a series of threshold hurdles, the Court ultimately concludes that the plaintiffs prevail on all aspects of their APA claims except for certain contractors’ requests for reinstatement,” the US District Court for the District of Columbia judge said.

Lamberth’s order Tuesday follows on a preliminary one, finding the defendants likely engaged in arbitrary and capricious action and unlawfully withheld required agency action under the APA. He previously called the government’s efforts “‘a hasty, indiscriminate approach’ to administrative action.”

The order comes shortly after the same judge said politician and former TV news anchor Kari Lake illegally served as head of the agency while overseeing these efforts, ruling them void. And the order joins others of Lamberth’s chastising these staffing actions.

The Department of Justice, which represents the government, didn’t immediately respond to an email seeking comment.

Government Accountability Project, Democracy Forward Foundation, and others represent the plaintiffs.

The case is Widakuswara v. Lake, D.D.C., No. 1:25-cv-01015, 3/17/26.