President Trump lacked the power to install Kari Lake as head of the U.S. Agency for Global Media, a federal judge ruled Saturday, invalidating her actions — including her attempt to wind down Voice of America, a flagship operation of USAGM.
Judge Royce Lamberth, a Reagan appointee to the U.S. District Court in Washington, said Mr. Trump didn’t follow the Vacancies Act when he installed Ms. Lake, a political ally, as acting chief of USAGM.
That, Judge Lamberth said, means all actions Ms. Lake took, including trying to fire hundreds of employees, “are void.”
Reporters Without Borders hailed the decision, though it said there is still more “work to be done to ensure VOA’s journalists get back to work.”
“Beyond the immediate implications of the ruling, this case is proof that fighting for press freedom matters,” the organization said.
In addition to his executive actions Mr. Trump had tried to get Congress to shut down all funding for VOA and, more broadly, USAGM.
He requested just $23 million in wind-down funding for VOA in 2026, down from $260 million before.
Congress, in the recently approved spending law, cut VOA’s budget somewhat, but rejected Mr. Trump’s shutdown, allocating $200 million for this year.
Both sides rushed to court to claim Congress had backed them.
“Congress has now emphatically rejected the executive branch’s proposals,” the challengers said, pointing out that Capitol Hill included some strict guardrails on how much the money can be moved around.
But the administration said the cut shows “Congress itself envisions a smaller-scale agency,” and said it will have to be up to Mr. Trump and his team to decide what that looks like.
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
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