{"id":510568,"date":"2026-03-08T05:17:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-08T05:17:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/510568\/"},"modified":"2026-03-08T05:17:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-08T05:17:08","slug":"us-judge-voids-actions-by-voice-of-america-acting-ceo-kari-lake-including-mass-lay-offs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/510568\/","title":{"rendered":"US judge voids actions by Voice of America acting CEO Kari Lake, including mass lay-offs"},"content":{"rendered":"<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">A federal judge ruled \u2060on Saturday that Kari Lake\u2019s \u2060leadership of the US Agency for Global Media (USAGM) \u2060for much of last year violated federal law, invalidating a sweeping series of actions she took to cut staff and end many operations at its Voice of America (VOA) unit.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">In another blow to the Donald Trump administration\u2019s attempts to diminish various government agencies, US District Judge Royce Lamberth granted \u200ca summary judgment in favour of plaintiffs \u2013 including VOA journalists and a union representing federal employees \u2013 who argued that Lake\u2019s appointment as acting CEO and actions she took in that role ran afoul of the Federal Vacancies Reform Act and the constitution\u2019s Appointments Clause.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">Lamberth ruled that Lake was ineligible to serve as acting CEO because she was not employed by USAGM when former CEO Amanda Bennett resigned in January 2025, \u2060and had not been confirmed by the Senate to any other federal post.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">Lake officially joined USAGM in March \u200cas a senior adviser. A November 21 news release from the agency called her deputy CEO.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">The judge also rejected the administration\u2019s argument that Lake could wield CEO authority through \u200ca delegation from previous acting CEO Victor Morales.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Kari Lake officially joined the US Agency for Global Media in March \u200cas a senior adviser. Photo: AP\" data-qa=\"BaseImage-handleRenderImage-StyledImage\" class=\"e1gf69pb2 css-6ikqhs e445x7d0\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/0e7339f6-074d-4995-8124-24526370644d_98c54a39.jpg\" title=\"Kari Lake officially joined the US Agency for Global Media in March \u200cas a senior adviser. Photo: AP\"\/>Kari Lake officially joined the US Agency for Global Media in March \u200cas a senior adviser. Photo: AP<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">Saturday\u2019s decision marks at least the third time Lamberth has \u2060ruled against the Trump \u2060administration in cases involving the Voice of America. The judge in April and September halted plans that would have put many VOA employees \u200cout of work, although the April ruling was later overturned by an appeals court.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A federal judge ruled \u2060on Saturday that Kari Lake\u2019s \u2060leadership of the US Agency for Global Media (USAGM)&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":510569,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[231593,23,231595,231601,231592,78193,231600,231602,3,231594,644,21,19,22,20,25,231603,231596,24,231599,231597,231598,231591],"class_list":["post-510568","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-states","tag-amanda-bennett","tag-america","tag-appointments-clause","tag-federal-vacancies-reform-act","tag-jessica-jerreat","tag-kari-lake","tag-kate-neeper","tag-lamberth","tag-news","tag-patsy-widakuswara","tag-trump-administration","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-us-agency-for-global-media","tag-us-district-judge-royce-lamberth","tag-usa","tag-usagm","tag-victor-morales","tag-voa","tag-voice-of-america"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/510568","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=510568"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/510568\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/510569"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=510568"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=510568"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=510568"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}