US court backs Trump move to defund Voice of America

The decision has thwarted the expected resumption of operations at Voice of America

A US appellate court has rejected a ruling that would have re-opened the government-funded media outlet Voice of America (VOA) after it was shuttered by US President Donald Trump.

In March, Trump cut funding for the US Agency for Global Media (USAGM), the parent organization that oversees several entities delivering Washington’s messaging to foreign audiences. In April, a federal judge in Washington issued an injunction requiring the government to continue financing VOA and its affiliates.

On Saturday, however, the Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit sided with the government’s argument that the district court lacked jurisdiction over USAGM’s personnel and funding matters. The 2-1 ruling said the Trump administration “is likely to succeed on the merits” in the ongoing litigation.

Judge Cornelia Pillard dissented, warning that the stay order “all but guarantees that the networks will no longer exist in any meaningful form by the time this case is fully adjudicated.”

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USAGM senior advisor Kari Lake praised the outcome, posting on X, “Turns out the District Court judge will not be able to manage the agency as he seemed to want to.”

Earlier in the same day, the international organization Reporters Without Borders (RsF), which is advocating for the preservation of VOA, celebrated what it called a “victory against the Trump administration” on Saturday. RsF referenced a message from USAGM informing that the accounts of “1,406 employees and contractors” had been reactivated and that VOA programming is expected to resume “next week.”

The Trump administration seeks to cut excess government spending in order to address chronic federal budget deficits. In the first 100 days of his second term, the US president ordered the suspension of various agencies involved in foreign policy operations, which his cabinet accused of funding excessive projects and harboring potential corruption.