{"id":246322,"date":"2026-04-01T06:25:12","date_gmt":"2026-04-01T06:25:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/246322\/"},"modified":"2026-04-01T06:25:12","modified_gmt":"2026-04-01T06:25:12","slug":"federal-judge-permanently-blocks-presidential-directive-ending-npr-pbs-funding","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/246322\/","title":{"rendered":"Federal judge permanently blocks presidential directive ending NPR, PBS funding"},"content":{"rendered":"

A federal judge agreed to\u00a0permanently block<\/a>\u00a0the Trump administration on Tuesday from implementing a presidential directive to end federal funding for National Public Radio and the Public Broadcasting Service.<\/p>\n

The operational effects of U.S. District Judge Randolph Moss\u2019 decision, during which he cited the First Amendment, was not immediately clear \u2014 both because it will likely be appealed and because too much damage to the public-broadcasting system has already been done, both by the president and Congress.<\/p>\n

Locally, however, the mood seemed cautiously optimistic.<\/p>\n

\u201cLast summer, starting with this executive order, public media found itself in the middle of the question of what Americans and the government of the people value,\u201d said public radio station KPBS<\/a> General Manager Deanna Mackey in a statement. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt became apparent that the people and those who govern do not agree with each other. The people value the First Amendment and public media. <\/p>\n

\u201cToday\u2019s ruling does not turn back the clock and restore funding to the public media system but it does something powerful in this moment \u2014 it reaffirms freedom of the press. The essential service KPBS and our national partners PBS and NPR are providing right now, has more value than ever.\u201d<\/p>\n

Moss ruled that President Donald Trump\u2019s executive order to cease funding for\u00a0NPR and PBS<\/a>\u00a0is unlawful and unenforceable. The judge said the First Amendment right to free speech \u201cdoes not tolerate viewpoint discrimination and retaliation of this type.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is difficult to conceive of clearer evidence that a government action is targeted at viewpoints that the President does not like and seeks to squelch,\u201d wrote Moss, who was nominated to the bench by President Barack Obama, a Democrat.<\/p>\n

PBS, with programming ranging from \u201cSesame Street\u201d and \u201cMister Rogers\u2019 Neighborhood\u201d to Ken Burns\u2019 documentaries, has been operating for more than half a century. NPR has news programming from \u201cAll Things Considered\u201d and cultural shows like the \u201cTiny Desk\u201d concerts. For decades, the fates of both systems have been part of a philosophical debate over whether government should help fund their operations.<\/p>\n

A victory, though incremental, for press freedom<\/p>\n

Plaintiffs\u2019 attorney Theodore Boutrous said Tuesday\u2019s ruling is \u201ca victory for the First Amendment and for freedom of the press.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAs the Court expressly recognized, the First Amendment draws a line, which the government may not cross, at efforts to use government power \u2014 including the power of the purse \u2014 \u2018to punish or suppress disfavored expression\u2019 by others,\u201d Boutrous said in a statement. \u201cThe Executive Order crossed that line.\u201d<\/p>\n

The judge agreed with government attorneys that some of the news outlets\u2019 legal claims are moot, partly because the CPB no longer exists.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut that does not end the matter because the Executive Order sweeps beyond the CPB,\u201d Moss added. \u201cIt also directs that all federal agencies refrain from funding NPR and PBS \u2014 regardless of the nature of the program or the merits of their applications or requests for funding.\u201d<\/p>\n

NPR and three public radio stations\u00a0sued administration officials<\/a>\u00a0last May. While Trump was named as a defendant, the case did not include Congress \u2014 and the legislative body has played a large role in the public-broadcasting saga in the past year.<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s executive order immediately cut millions of dollars in funding from the Education Department to PBS for its children\u2019s programming, forcing the system to lay off one-third of the PBS Kids staff. The Trump order didn\u2019t impact Congress\u2019 vote to eliminate the overall federal appropriations for PBS and NPR, which forced the closure of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the entity that funneled that money to the TV and radio networks.<\/p>\n

Punishment for \u2018past speech\u2019 cited in decision<\/p>\n

The judge noted that Trump\u2019s executive order simply directs that all federal agencies \u201ccut off any and all funding\u201d to NPR, which is based in Washington, and PBS, based in Arlington, Virginia.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Federal Defendants fail to cite a single case in which a court has ever upheld a statute or executive action that bars a particular person or entity from participating in any federally funded activity based on that person or entity\u2019s past speech,\u201d the judge wrote.<\/p>\n

Last year, Trump, a Republican, said at a news conference he would \u201clove to\u201d defund NPR and PBS because he believes they\u2019re biased in favor of Democrats.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe message is clear: NPR and PBS need not apply for any federal benefit because the President disapproves of their \u2018left wing\u2019 coverage of the news,\u201d Moss wrote.<\/p>\n

NPR accused the Corporation for Public Broadcasting of violating its First Amendment free speech rights when it moved to cut off its access to grant money appropriated by Congress. NPR also claims Trump wants to punish it for the content of its journalism.<\/p>\n

\u201cPublic media exists to serve the public interest \u2014 that of Americans \u2014 not that of any political agenda or elected official,\u201d said Katherine Maher, NPR\u2019s president and chief executive officer. Like KPBS\u2019s general manager, she called the decision a decisive affirmation of the rights of a free and independent press.<\/p>\n

PBS chief Paula Kerger also said she was thrilled with the decision. The executive order, she said, is \u201ctextbook\u201d unconstitutional viewpoint discrimination and retaliation. \u201cAt PBS, we will continue to do what we\u2019ve always done: serve our mission to educate and inspire all Americans as the nation\u2019s most trusted media institution.\u201d<\/p>\n

Last August,\u00a0CPB announced it would take steps toward closing itself down<\/a>\u00a0after being defunded by Congress.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A federal judge agreed to\u00a0permanently block\u00a0the Trump administration on Tuesday from implementing a presidential directive to end federal…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":246323,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[973,52906,110112,74,76,75,1695],"class_list":["post-246322","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-media","tag-public-media","tag-public-media-funding","tag-san-diego","tag-san-diego-headlines","tag-san-diego-news","tag-trump-administration"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246322","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=246322"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246322\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/246323"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=246322"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=246322"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=246322"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}