Judge reinstates 1,000 Voice of America employees, deems wind-down illegal

Source: Washington Post

March 17, 2026 at 5:33 p.m. EDT


Voice of America employees have spent a full year on paid administrative leave while President Donald Trump's administration has tried to shrink the international broadcaster to its "statutory minimum." That extended absence is coming to an end.

A federal judge ruled Tuesday that the wind-down of operations at the U.S. Agency for Global Media, VOA's parent, is unlawful and ordered the agency to bring more than 1,000 employees back to work.

U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lamberth ruled that the near-total shutdown of USAGM, which oversees VOA and funds several international broadcasters such as Radio Free Asia, violated federal administrative law. He ordered the full-time employees to return to work by March 23 and told the agency to resume international broadcasting, which it has mostly abandoned during the past year -- save for some airing in languages such as Farsi.

Lamberth, a Ronald Reagan appointee, criticized the government's "flagrant and nearly year-long refusal" to uphold statutory requirements set by Congress and lambasted Kari Lake, the Trump official who oversaw the dismantling of the agency. Lamberth recently ruled that Lake has been running the agency illegally. "The defendants' persistent omission and withholding of key information in this case has been a Hallmark production in bad faith," he wrote of Lake and the government in a footnote.

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2026/03/17/voice-of-america-firings-illegal-judge-finds/