In a significant victory for federal employees and press freedom advocates, U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lamberth has directed the Trump administration to immediately reverse drastic cuts that had effectively dismantled large portions of the Voice of America (VOA), reinstating 1,042 of the broadcaster’s 1,147 employees who had been placed on administrative leave or sidelined for nearly a year.
The March 18, 2026 ruling reverses actions taken under former acting U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM) director Kari Lake — whom President Trump had appointed without Senate confirmation — that reduced VOA to a “statutory minimum” operation. Those measures severely curtailed multilingual programming, eliminated entire language services, and forced the agency to cease most original journalism production.
Judge Lamberth declared the administration’s decisions “arbitrary and capricious,” stating that officials failed to provide any reasoned explanation or comply with federal statutes mandating VOA’s language and geographic coverage obligations.
“Defendants have provided nothing approaching a principled basis for their decision,” the judge wrote in his 38-page opinion.
The court gave USAGM seven days to submit a detailed restoration plan, including timelines for resuming full broadcasts and returning staff to active duty. Failure to comply could trigger contempt proceedings.
Patsy Widakuswara, VOA’s White House bureau chief and a lead plaintiff in the lawsuit, welcomed the decision.
“We are eager to begin repairing the damage Kari Lake has inflicted on our agency and our colleagues, to return to our congressional mandate, and to rebuild the trust of the global audience we have been unable to serve for the past year,” she told the Associated Press. “We know the road to restoring VOA’s operations and reputation will be long and difficult.”
Implications for Workers
The ruling is a major win for the affected employees, many of whom have been on paid administrative leave since mid-2025, unable to perform their core journalistic functions. Restoration means:
- Immediate return to active duty for more than 1,000 journalists, editors, producers, and support staff
- Reinstatement of full pay, benefits, and seniority rights that were frozen or threatened
- Resumption of health insurance continuity, retirement contributions, and other federal employee protections
- Opportunity to reclaim professional identity and mission after a year of enforced idleness
Legal experts note that the decision strengthens protections under the Administrative Procedure Act against politically motivated dismantling of congressionally mandated agencies. It also reaffirms that acting officials without Senate confirmation cannot unilaterally override statutory mandates.
The Trump administration has not yet indicated whether it will appeal. President Trump has nominated Sarah Rogers, current Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy, to lead USAGM on a permanent basis, a nomination that requires Senate confirmation.
Founded during World War II, Voice of America broadcasts in 49 languages to an audience of approximately 362 million people weekly, providing independent news in countries with limited press freedom. The agency’s near-shutdown had drawn widespread criticism from press freedom organizations, former VOA journalists, and foreign policy experts.
