A federal judge ordered the Trump administration on Monday night to pause mass layoffs at the agency that oversees Voice of America.
Why it matters: U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth's ruling means that U.S. Agency for Global Media acting CEO Kari Lake can't lay off 532 people, most of its staff, on Tuesday as scheduled amid a wider legal battle.
- The Reagan-appointed judge said the "disrespect" the administration had shown the court in disregarding previous orders could result in contempt proceedings.
Driving the news: Lake canceled USAGM's 15-year lease in March and has suggested that the agency needs to be reduced "to the bare minimum and start fresh."
- Several VOA journalists filed a lawsuit in March challenging the administration's gutting of USAGM.
- Lamberth noted in his order that an April preliminary injunction in the case ordered the administration to "restore VOA programming" to "serve as a consistently reliable and authoritative source of news."
- The D.C.-based judge said the court "no longer harbors any doubt that defendants lack a plan to comply with the preliminary injunction, and instead have been running out the clock on the fiscal year while remaining in violation of even the most meager reading" of USAGM and Voice of America's statutory obligations.
Zoom in: "The defendants' obfuscation of this Court's request for information regarding whether their RIF [reduction in force] plans comported with the preliminary injunction has wasted precious judicial time and resources and readily support contempt proceedings," Lamberth wrote.
- He noted the plaintiffs had not sought contempt proceedings in the case that names Lake as a defendant.
- "However, its deference to the plaintiffs with respect to further proceedings should not be mistaken for lenience toward the defendants' egregious erstwhile conduct," he added.
- Representatives for the White House and U.S. Agency for Global Media did not immediately respond to Axios' Monday night request for comment.
Read the order in full, via DocumentCloud:
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