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A federal judge rules that Trump’s order eliminating PBS and NPR funding is unconstitutional. But funding is unlikely to restart from the ruling alone.
Last May, Trump signed an executive order to eliminate funding for the nation’s two leading public broadcasters: NPR and PBS. Now, a federal judge has struck that order down, which “crosses that line” into unconstitutional territory.
“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,” wrote Judge Randolph D. Moss. “The message is clear: NPR and PBS need not apply for any federal benefit because the President disapproves of their ‘left-wing’ coverage of the news,” Moss said of Trump’s executive order.
Trump has been a critic of NPR and PBS for ages, claiming their news coverage is biased against him. Last year, the Trump administration asked Congress to nix $1.1 billion in funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) as part of a larger $9.3 billion rescissions package.
“We’re thrilled with today’s decision declaring the executive order unconstitutional,” said PBS spokesperson Jeremy Gaines. “As we argued, and Judge Moss ruled, the executive order is textbook unconstitutional viewpoint discrimination and retaliation, in violation of longstanding First Amendment principles.”
“The court made clear that the government cannot use funding as a lever to influence or penalize the press, whether as a national news service or a local newsroom,” said NPR President and CEO Katherine Maher, who called the ruling “a decisive affirmation of the rights of a free and independent press—and a win for NPR, our network of stations, and our tens of millions of listeners nationwide.”
Notably, Moss said in his ruling that because CPB funds have already been rescinded, requests from NPR and PBS for relief against CPB are moot. But Moss also issued a permanent injunction against the Trump administration to prevent the implementation of the executive order.
CPB shut down earlier this year as the dust settled, after having formed in 1967 to help fund public radio broadcasters around the nation. Since the corporation’s dissolution, the judge’s ruling does not automatically grant funding to the affected broadcasters. Instead, it prevents the administration from gutting them altogether.
Meanwhile, White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson called Judge Moss’ ruling “ridiculous” and suggested that the Trump administration might file an appeal.
“NPR and PBS have no right to receive taxpayer funds, and Congress already voted to defund them. The Trump administration looks forward to ultimate victory on the issue,” said Jackson.
