WASHINGTON, D.C. — A District of Columbia District Court Judge has ruled against Donald J. Trump for his signing on May 1, 2025, of Executive Order 14290, which ended “taxpayer subsidization of biased media” by ending federal funding of both NPR and PBS by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting or any government agency.
It marks a defeat for the President against Public Broadcasting Service, which sued Trump in a Civil Case presided by District Judge Randolph D. Moss.
For Judge Moss, the executive order violates the First Amendment and, as such, is “unlawful and unenforceable.” Specifically, he said the First Amendment “draws a line, which the government may not cross, at efforts to use government power — including the power of the purse — ‘to punish or suppress disfavored expression’ by others.”
Executive Order 14290 “crosses that line.” Judge Moss notes that federal funds “provide safety and security for journalists working in war zones” and support the Emergency Broadcast System, among other things that are not linked to ideological bias, which the president and many Republicans accuse the newscasts of both PBS and NPR to exhibit.
“It is difficult to conceive of clear evidence that a government action is targeted at viewpoints that the President does not like and seeks to squelch,” wrote Mass, who was nominated by President Obama.
While dollars “clawed back” by Congressional Republicans that were previously approved by Capitol Hill legislators won’t return and Congress is not blocked from a “zero out” of future appropriations bills, Congress now has the right to restore funding free of executive branch interference.
In a statement, NPR’s attorney, Theodore Boutrous, said, “The court’s decision bars the government from enforcing its unconstitutional Executive Order targeting NPR and PBS because the President dislikes their news reporting and other programming.”
