A federal appeals court has foiled a plan to return more than 1,000 Voice of America (VoA) workers to their desks after an earlier court ruling granted a temporary stay on Donald Trump’s executive order dismantling the US taxpayer-funded news service for overseas listeners. Now it seems unlikely that broadcasters will return to work until the case has been resolved by the courts.
A Saturday ruling by a divided DC circuit court panel essentially decided that the courts must defer to the executive branch on employment matters. Judges Neomi Rao and Gregory Katsas – both Trump appointees – found that the lower court likely did not have jurisdiction to order the employees back to work. Their ruling paused the part of the lower court order requiring the administration “take all necessary steps to return USAGM employees and contractors to their status prior” to the executive order.
Judge Nina Pillard, a Barack Obama appointee, said in her dissent on Saturday the decision was tantamount to “silencing Voice of America for the foreseeable future”.
VoA was effectively shut down after Trump signed an order on 14 March dismantling or shrinking seven agencies including the US Agency for Global Media (USAGM).
The USAGM is an independent government agency that oversees VoA and distributes congressionally appropriated funds to several non-profit broadcasters that provide news and information in almost 50 languages in countries with limited or no access to independent media sources.
After nearly every affected network sued, US district judge Royce Lamberth, a Ronald Reagan appointee, granted a preliminary injunction in late April, ruling that the executive order was arbitrary and likely exceeded the president’s authority.
The Department of Justice appealed. On Thursday, a Washington DC federal appeals court, which included two Trump appointees, partly upheld the lower court ruling that would have enabled VoA to resume broadcasting while the appeal played out.
VoA staff would have been able to begin a “phased return” to the office and resume programming next week, according to an email from the justice department shared with the Washington Post. Some VoA and USAGM staff had had access to their government email accounts restored.
But that ruling was bad news for the other publicly funded broadcasters.
The Trump administration’s freeze on congressionally approved funds for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Radio Free Asia and Middle East Broadcasting Networks will remain in place while the lawsuit makes its way through the court.
While VoA is a federal entity, the other broadcasters are private non-profit organizations. The funding freeze has already forced them to make staffing cuts and reduce content.
The USAGM had, until now, enjoyed bipartisan support, due to the vital role VoA and the other foreign-news broadcasters play in advancing democracy and US interests by reaching about 360 million people in countries that have little to no independent press.
The Guardian has contacted both the USAGA and VoA for comment.
Diana Ramirez-Simon contributed reporting
