A federal judge ordered President Donald Trump to restart a critical public news service his administration shuttered, Politico's Kyle Cheney reported on Tuesday.
In the lawsuit Widakuswara v. Lake, Texas-based U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth, a jurist appointed by former President Ronald Reagan, found that the Voice of America, a news service run directly by the U.S. Agency for Global Media to counter foreign propaganda, must remain open, along with some other affiliated services, while the case continues into whether Trump had the authority to unilaterally shut it down without an act of Congress.
"In sum, the irreparable harm that the plaintiffs allege impacts the very existence of USAGM, the health and safety of its journalists and employees, and the interests of the millions of reporters and listeners who depend on USAGM’s programming," Lamberth wrote. "For all of these reasons, the Court concludes that the plaintiffs’ have demonstrated irreparable harm warranting the issuance of a preliminary injunction."
ALSO READ: 'Dictatorship, not a town hall': Families 'distraught' as MTG disruptors tased and jailed
The news service has long been supported on a bipartisan basis; however, Trump and his officials have singled it out for elimination, triggering outrage among observers who fear the move will diminish America's ability to spread its core values abroad.
Kari Lake, the former Phoenix news anchor and failed Arizona Senate and gubernatorial candidate that Trump tapped for a key advisory role at the agency, has stated she wants to end the program because it has published anti-Trump content like an image of "President Trump with a swastika over his face."
"The Trump administration has to return Voice of American to operations while litigation over whether it has the power to shutter it makes its way through the courts," wrote former federal prosecutor Joyce Vance on X in reaction to the ruling. "Another small victory."
Some observers, however, have no confidence that the order will be obeyed.
"Stage is now set for another court order to be defied..." wrote investigative reporter Dave Troy.
Even so, Democrats on the House Oversight Committee took a victory lap on X.
"As long as Trump and Musk keep illegally shuttering government agencies, they will keep losing in the courts. Democrats are leading the fight against this Administration's harmful cuts in the courts, in Congress, and in every community. We will never back down."
And former Tea Party Rep. Joe Walsh, a frequent Trump critic, cheered as well.
"Good. Damn good," he wrote on X.
