Daijiworld Media Network - Washington

Washington, Mar 8: A federal judge on Saturday ruled that Kari Lake’s leadership of the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM) for much of last year violated federal law, invalidating a series of actions she took to cut staff and curtail operations at Voice of America (VOA).

Royce Lamberth, a judge of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, granted summary judgment in favour of plaintiffs that included VOA journalists and a union representing federal employees. They argued that Lake’s appointment as acting CEO and the actions she took in that role violated the Federal Vacancies Reform Act and the Appointments Clause of the U.S. Constitution.

The judge ruled that Lake was not eligible to serve as acting CEO because she was not employed by USAGM when former CEO Amanda Bennett resigned in January 2025, and she had not been confirmed by the Senate to any other federal post. Lake later joined USAGM in March as a senior adviser, and a November 21 agency release described her as deputy CEO.

Lamberth also rejected the administration’s argument that Lake could exercise CEO authority through a delegation from previous acting CEO Victor Morales.

The ruling marks at least the third time Lamberth has ruled against the administration of Donald Trump in cases related to VOA. Earlier, the judge had halted plans in April and September that would have put many VOA employees out of work, though the April ruling was later overturned by an appeals court.

Reacting to the latest decision, Lake said she would appeal the ruling. “Judge Lamberth has a pattern of activist rulings — and this case is no different,” she said in a statement.

In his order, Lamberth wrote that under the Federal Vacancies Reform Act, actions taken by someone not lawfully serving in a vacant office “shall have no force or effect” and cannot be ratified. The ruling could affect the legal standing of several decisions taken by Lake, including a reduction-in-force that impacted hundreds of employees and remains under a court-ordered suspension.

“As a consequence, any actions taken by Lake during her asserted tenure as acting CEO between July 31 and November 19, 2025… are void,” the judge said.

Voice of America, which previously broadcast in 49 languages to about 420 million people across more than 100 countries, had been reduced to just four languages under the administration’s efforts to scale back the agency’s operations.