US court ruling throws Voice of America return into flux

A US appellate court on Saturday ruled against allowing Voice of America staff to return to work, throwing its resumption of operations into question after President Donald Trump shuttered the broadcaster in March.

Voice of America (VOA), a US government-run news service for international audiences, has been off the air since Trump ordered the dismantling of the US Agency for Global Media (USAGM), which oversees VOA and other broadcasters including Radio Free Asia and distributes federal funding for their operations.

Two Trump-appointed judges, Neomi Rao and Gregory Katsas, wrote in their ruling the lower court "likely lacked subject-matter jurisdiction over USAGM's personnel actions."

A third judge, Cornelia Pillard, appointed by former president Barack Obama, dissented.

The ruling throws plans for VOA employees to return to work into disarray, with several indicators emerging prior to Saturday's court ruling.

"A Justice Department attorney has sent an email to our lawyer, David Seide, informing him that USAGM expects VOA staff to begin a 'phased return' to work and programming to resume next week," the service's chief national correspondent Steve Herman posted on social media platform X.

Two VOA employees also said Saturday that work email accounts that were frozen have been unblocked, although they had yet to receive any formal notice telling them they can return to work.

Kari Lake, the far-right former broadcaster appointed by Trump to oversee USAGM, celebrated the appellate ruling in a post on X.

"BIG WIN in our legal cases at USAGM & Voice of America. Huge victory for President Trump and Article II," Lake wrote.

"Turns out the District Court judge will not be able to manage the agency as he seemed to want to."

The president has questioned why the broadcaster that reaches millions of weekly listeners and viewers worldwide is not promoting his administration's viewpoint, bristling at the editorial "firewall" that let the service operate independently.

In an April letter to lawmakers, several former directors of VOA, nominated across party lines over the decades, pressed Congress to intervene to restore the broadcaster, after a judge said Trump's shutdown violated the law.

May 3 is World Press Freedom Day, which celebrates the role of a free press and highlights the challenges for journalism around the globe.