A group of former journalists and other employees of the federal government-funded media company  Voice of America (VOA) filed a complaint in a New York federal court Friday seeking to force the federal government to restore the terminated employees and contractors to the positions they held before March 14 — the date President Donald Trump signed Executive Order 14238.

The order, titled “Continuing the Reduction of the Federal Bureaucracy,” provided for the elimination of seven federal entities including the US Agency for Global Media (USAGM), the parent entity of VOA. This order was followed up by two other actions: 1) an article the same day titled “The Voice of Radical America,” vowing to “end taxpayer support” for “radical propaganda” allegedly spread by “leftist” VOA; and 2) an e-mail the following day informing approximately 1,300 journalists  and other staff that they were being placed on administrative leave “effective immediately.” This latter action is now widely being referred to as “Bloody Saturday.”

Among others, the plaintiffs in this suit included the terminated VOA staff, Reporters Sans Frontieres (RSF), Reporters Without Borders (RSF USA), and the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE). Some of the plaintiffs also included individuals on J-1 visas for work or study visits to the US. Those visas are now reportedly being canceled and these individuals now face the prospect of returning to countries that are under authoritarian regimes. Defendants include USAGM itself, its acting CEO Victor Morales, and his senior advisor, Kari Lake.

Accusing the Trump Administration of violating 22 USC § 6204(b) requiring the federal government to respect the “professional independence and integrity of” VOA and other USAGM networks, the plaintiffs said that the defendants have “usurped congressional power and acted arbitrarily in violation of the [Administrative Procedure Act (APA)].”

Referring back to Trump’s first-term attempts to silence the press, which were previously stopped by a federal court, the plaintiffs stated:

Today, because of Defendants’ actions, VOA has no listeners, and USAGM’s grantee networks are being starved of the funds they need to maintain theirs…there are virtually no workers performing their important public services, and USAGM produces no news, no opinion, no content at all. Prior to March 15, 2025, Congress’s statutory mandate that VOA continuously broadcast to the world had been honored and faithfully upheld for more than eight decades. Today, for the first time in VOA’s history, it is defied…

Sadly, if history teaches lessons, these latest abuses come as little surprise. In 2020, the first Trump Administration—unhappy with the news coverage being disseminated by USAGM networks worldwide—sought to chill journalists in their newsgathering and expression and tear down the firewall insulating USAGM and its networks from partisan overreach. That effort was stopped by a federal District Judge’s grant of a preliminary injunction. Today, the second Trump Administration has taken a chainsaw to the agency as a whole in an attempt to shutter it completely. The same judicial response—swift and definitive—is required.

Aside from the above-mentioned temporary and permanent injunctions, the plaintiffs are also asking the court to order defendants to comply wth statutes, restore all programming on and continue funding the USAGM networks, and refrain from reducing the USAGM network workforce. Additionally, the plaintiffs are asking for a declaration that the defendants violated the First Amendment, the separation of powers clause, the APA, and the appointments clause.

Another former VOA staffer, Steve Herman, who was suspended last month, shared his own insights on the matter while describing actions taken against him by USAGM for his social media activity. RSF Executive Director Clayton Weimers also commented on his own company involvement in the suit stating:

It’s clear that Donald Trump’s action will encourage harsher crackdowns against journalists and press freedom, putting VOA and RSF staff, correspondents, volunteers, and supporters in greater danger. RSF is compelled to act to protect VOA and the broader press freedom community.