Appeals court stays reinstatement of Voice of America workers

More than 1,000 former employees and contractors were preparing to return to Voice of America (VOA) starting next week. Fired by the administration, a federal judge ordered their reinstatement in April. Within hours of this order, an appeals court stayed the order, upholding the government.

The Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled 2-1 that Judge Royce Lamberth lacks jurisdiction to order the return of VOA staffing and grants for Radio Free Asia and Middle East Broadcasting Networks, also suspended by the White House.

In its recent order, picked up by Reuters, the court remarked that the government did not protest the section of Lamberth's order requiring the reinstatement of statutorily required programming levels.

The counter-order comes, according to various reports, amid preparations for the return of those laid off. On Friday, they regained access to their mail accounts and other company systems, according to a memo picked up by CNN.

In another statement the same day, Kari Lake, a senior advisor to Trump at the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM), welcomed the staff: "We look forward to working with you all."

In the final hours, Lake celebrated this latest script twist as a "huge victory." "Turns out the District Court judge will not be able to manage the agency as he seemed to want to," she wrote. Speaking to Fox News, the Republican assured that the ruling will allow the plan to "bring VOA into the 21st century."