Judge rules Kari Lake unlawfully ran US media agency, voiding layoffs

A federal judge in Washington ruled Saturday that Kari Lake has unlawfully served as chief executive of the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM), which oversees Voice of America, and nullified many actions she has taken in the role, including mass layoffs of staff.

U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lamberth, in a 17-page opinion, granted summary judgment to a group of employees, led by Voice of America’s White House bureau chief Patsy Widakuswara, who sued Lake last year. Lamberth found that Lake, who was appointed by President Donald Trump, violated the Constitution’s appointments clause and the Federal Vacancies Reform Act by helming the agency.

“The Court finds that these expansive delegations were an unlawful effort to transform Lake into the CEO of U.S. Agency for Global Media in all but name,” Lamberth wrote.

The decision is the latest in a string of legal defeats to the Trump administration’s yearlong effort to dismantle USAGM, the federal agency that in addition to Voice of America oversees other U.S.-funded international broadcasters including Radio Free Asia.

“The American people gave President Trump a mandate to cut bloated bureaucracy, eliminate waste, and restore accountability to government,” Lake said in a statement on Saturday. “An activist judge is trying to stand in the way of those efforts at USAGM. … We strongly disagree with this decision and will appeal.”

Lake, a former television anchor who unsuccessfully ran for governor and a U.S. Senate seat in Arizona, billed herself as a reformer who would fix what she has called the “most corrupt agency in Washington.”

After Trump issued executive order last March ordering the drawdown of the agency, Lake placed most staffers on administrative leave and cut hundreds of contractors. Two lawsuits were filed, one by a group of employees and another by VOA Director Michael Abramowitz, challenging her moves, but most of the agency’s workers are still on leave today.

Lamberth, nominated to the federal bench by President Ronald M. Reagan, has repeatedly stymied Lake’s efforts to shut down the agency, ordering her to uphold her statutory obligations for broadcasting as set forth by Congress. The judge has on multiple occasions threatened to hold Lake in contempt of court for not cooperating with his orders, and ordered her and two other officials to be deposed last fall. Lake said in that eight-hour deposition that she learned of Trump’s executive order shrinking the agency the same day it was issued.

Lake’s tenure at USAGM has been troubled from the start. Because Trump fired members of the little-known, Senate-confirmed International Broadcasting Advisory Board that appoints the CEO of USAGM and the director of Voice of America, there was arguably no legal mechanism for placing her in either role.

Lake was instead named senior adviser to acting chief executive Victor Morales, who then delegated his authorities to her. Lake has also called herself acting CEO and, more recently, deputy CEO — leading to public confusion about her precise title.

After Lamberth’s ruling Saturday, the named plaintiffs in the case said in a statement that they felt “vindicated and deeply grateful” for the decision.

“The judge’s ruling that Kari Lake’s actions shall have no force or effect is a powerful step toward undoing the damage she has inflicted on this American institution that we love,” wrote Widakuswara, VOA press freedom editor Jessica Jerreat and Kate Neeper, USAGM’s director of strategy and performance assessment.

The group added: “Even as we work through what this ruling means for colleagues harmed by her actions, it brings renewed hope and momentum to the next phase of our fight: restoring VOA’s global operations and ensuring we continue to produce journalism, not propaganda.”

It is unclear whether Lake will be able to stay at USAGM given the constraints of the ruling.

Lamberth asked that the government provide clarity on who is the acting CEO of the agency by March 11, and also lay out a “succession plan” for that position.

Lake and the White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.