From Judge Royce Lamberth (D.D.C.) today in Widakuswara & Abramowitz v. Lake:
On April 22, 2025, upon finding that the defendants likely violated several provisions of the Administrative Procedure Act (APA), this Court ordered the defendants to "restore VOA programming such that USAGM fulfills its statutory mandate that VOA 'serve as a consistently reliable and authoritative source of news.'" This portion of the Court's preliminary injunction remains in full effect.
On June 23, 2025, the Court held a hearing on the pending Motions for an Order to Show Cause … regarding the defendants' alleged noncompliance with this part of the preliminary injunction. At the conclusion of the hearing, the Court ordered the defendants to file a "supplemental memorandum with additional information regarding USAGM's recent activities, including any relevant information about USAGM [U.S. Agency for Global Media] funding decisions, personnel updates, and submissions to Congress." …
The Court, having now reviewed all filings, is still unable to get a clear picture of how VOA is operating or how the agency plans to operate VOA moving forward.
For example, the defendants cite VOA's ramped-up Persian news programming in the aftermath of the recent Israeli air strikes against Iran as a successful demonstration of VOA's capacity to report the news. The defendants emphasize their ability to "exercise[] recalls, as appropriate," and maintain their "access to critical talent" to carry out operations as needed. But at the same time, the defendants also attach their submission to Congress on June 3rd, showing their intent to fire those very Persian News Network staffers as part of the impending reduction-in-force (RIF). See June 3 Notification to Senator Graham (indicating plan to retain only 11 VOA positions and 2 Farsi language positions). Faced with this record, the Court cannot rely on the defendants' latest representation of the Persian News Network "surge operation" as any measure of compliance.
