Over 500 Media People Will Not Get Laid Off, at Least Not Now

In a last-minute decision, a federal judge has saved the jobs of more than 500 media employees, temporarily halting the Trump administration's plan to implement massive layoffs at the agency overseeing Voice of America (VOA). The job cuts, which would have eliminated the vast majority of the agency's remaining staff, were scheduled to take effect Tuesday.

On Monday, U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth granted a temporary suspension of the planned reduction in force, which would have cut 532 full-time government positions at the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM). The agency’s acting CEO, Kari Lake, had announced the layoffs in late August.

In his ruling, Judge Lamberth sharply criticized the administration for a "concerning disrespect" toward the court, accusing it of "obfuscation" regarding its plans. He noted that the agency officially initiated the job cuts just hours after government lawyers described them as merely a "possibility" during a court hearing.

"The defendants’ obfuscation... has wasted precious judicial time and resources and readily support contempt proceedings,” Lamberth wrote, adding that while he wouldn't initiate those proceedings himself, his deference "should not be mistaken for lenience toward the defendants’ egregious erstwhile conduct."

The ruling is the latest development in a legal battle over the direction of VOA, a government-funded broadcaster founded during World War II to counter Nazi propaganda. Lamberth has previously blocked Lake from removing VOA’s director and ordered the administration to restore the broadcaster's programming to levels that align with its mandate to be a "reliable and authoritative source of news."

Attorneys for the employees argued that the layoffs would cripple the agency and prevent the judge from being able to enforce his previous orders. In contrast, government lawyers contended that the judge was impermissibly trying to micromanage the agency's operations.

The judge's order preserves the jobs for now, keeping the status quo until he makes a final ruling on the employees' motion to permanently block the layoffs.