Judge Orders Voice of America to Restart All News Operations

More than 1,000 full-time journalists and support staff at the news group were ordered to return to work by March 23 and to resume broadcasting.

A federal judge on Tuesday nullified nearly all actions that the Trump administration took to shutter Voice of America, a federally funded news organization that broadcast to countries with limited press protections, including Iran, China and Russia.

Judge Royce C. Lamberth of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ordered more than 1,000 full-time journalists and support staff at the news group to return to work by March 23 and to resume broadcasting operations. The judge’s decision excludes contracted employees.

Judge Lamberth wrote that Congress passed clear laws funding V.O.A. and directing the administration to maintain news operations “in each significant region of the world” that present “a variety of opinions and voices.” But the Trump administration, Judge Lamberth said, flagrantly disregarded the rules in seeking to shutter the news service and its parent agency.