‘Activist judge’ rules Trump appointee doesn’t have authority to order mass layoffs at Voice of America

Another federal judge has ruled against the Trump administration after a group of fired employees filed a lawsuit to oppose layoffs ordered at Voice of America.

President Donald Trump nominated Kari Lake to oversee the federal multimedia broadcaster in March 2025 as part of an order to reduce redundant government agencies.

‘We don’t have anyone in our foreign bureaus. We don’t have anybody, basically, to cover the news.’

On Saturday, U.S. District Court Judge Royce Lamberth ruled that Lake did not have the authority to order the layoffs, but it is unclear how the agency will proceed after the ruling.

“Only the Appointments Clause or the Vacancies Act’s exclusive structure may authorize service as a principal officer, and Lake satisfies the requirements of neither the statute nor the Constitution,” Lamberth wrote in the ruling.

Lamberth also noted that Lake had not been approved by the U.S. Senate.

The journalists who filed the lawsuit included Voice of America White House bureau chief Patsy Widakuswara, Kate Neeper, and Jessica Jerreat.

“We feel vindicated and deeply grateful. The judge’s ruling that Kari Lake’s actions shall have no force or effect is a powerful step toward undoing the damage she has inflicted on this American institution that we love,” reads a statement from the journalists.

“Even as we work through what this ruling means for colleagues harmed by her actions, it brings renewed hope and momentum to the next phase of our fight,” they added, “restoring VOA’s global operations and ensuring we continue to produce journalism, not propaganda.”

About 85% of the staff at VOA and the U.S. Agency for Global Media has been fired since March 2025, which includes about 1,400 workers.

“There’s about 120 working right now, and that’s all based in D.C.,” Widakuswara said. “We don’t have anyone in our foreign bureaus. We don’t have anybody, basically, to cover the news.”

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Lake excoriated the judge and indicated the government would appeal the ruling.

“The American people gave President Trump a mandate to cut bloated bureaucracy, eliminate waste, and restore accountability to government,” she wrote on social media.

“An activist judge is trying to stand in the way of those efforts at USAGM,” she added.
“Judge Lamberth has a pattern of activist rulings — and this case is no different.”

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