A federal judge on Friday ordered the Trump administration to restore funding for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, a federally funded newsroom that provides independent reporting in countries with limited press freedom, such as Russia, Iran and Afghanistan.
The judge, Royce C. Lamberth of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, berated the Trump administration in his ruling, calling its legal arguments “nonsensical” and its decision to withhold funds “unprecedented.”
The news organization, also known as RFE/RL, is a private nonprofit that has independence over its editorial decisions and hiring practices but receives nearly all of its funding from Congress. Since March, the administration has refused to enter into a new funding contract with RFE/RL after the previous agreement expired, effectively denying funding to the news group.
Before denying the funds, President Trump signed a budget bill in March that provided funding to the news group until Sept. 30, the end of the current fiscal year.
Judge Lamberth found that the Trump administration lacked legal authority to refuse funding that Congress approved without providing a clear basis for such a drastic measure.
“Congress has appropriated funds for RFE/RL every year since the enactment of the International Broadcasting Act of 1987,” the judge wrote in his ruling. He added that the Trump administration “has fallen short of its duty to articulate a satisfactory explanation” because “it has offered no explanation at all.”
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