A federal judge blocks layoffs of more than 500 Voice of America employees

A federal judge blocked more than 500 layoffs at Voice of America (VOA) within hours of them taking effect Tuesday, as planned by U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM) acting Director Kari Lake.

Judge Royce Lamberth accused the government of failing to comply with prior court orders. In April, in response to a lawsuit by journalists at the agency, the judge ordered VOA programming to resume after the government furloughed much of the staff.

The judge ordered that while the process continued, the outlet must continue to fulfill its mandate to "serve as a consistently reliable and authoritative source of news."

"Time and time again, the defendants have resisted the Court’s efforts to obtain information concerning whether they have fashioned a plan for compliance," he wrote Monday. "Now, following the ordered depositions of Defendant Lake, Ms. Soltani, and Mr. Wuco, the Court no longer harbors any doubt that defendants lack a plan to comply with the preliminary injunction, and instead have been running out the clock."

In announcing the layoffs in August, Lake justified the move by claiming it would improve the agency's service and save taxpayer money, and promising that "USAGM will continue to fulfill its statutory mission."

The judge said Monday that the administration was failing to comply with several elements of the statutes that regulate the operation of USAGM, such as broadcasting 12 hours of Korean-language content to North Korea each day, as well as broadcasting news in Kurdish, Croatian and Serbian.

He also accused the agency's management of showing a "concerning disrespect" for his previous order. He claims that the lack of response to his request for information would be enough to "more than support a trial on civil contempt." However, he refused to pursue this path because the defendants had not requested it.

"We are extremely gratified by Judge Lamberth’s order suspending the RIF [reduction in force] process, which means our termination will not take effect on September 30," the plaintiffs and VOA employees Patsy Widakuswara, Jessica Jerreat and Kate Neeper said in celebration.

"We believe the wholesale silencing of VOA broadcasts and the removal of critical staff and expertise go against what Congress intended. Our colleagues and our lawyers look forward to further proceedings before Judge Lamberth."

Access the judge's decision