{"id":203354,"date":"2026-03-08T13:30:30","date_gmt":"2026-03-08T13:30:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/u-s-judge-voids-2025-actions-taken-by-kari-lake-as-voice-of-america-ceo-including-job-cuts-nbc-news\/"},"modified":"2026-03-08T13:30:30","modified_gmt":"2026-03-08T13:30:30","slug":"u-s-judge-voids-2025-actions-taken-by-kari-lake-as-voice-of-america-ceo-including-job-cuts-nbc-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/u-s-judge-voids-2025-actions-taken-by-kari-lake-as-voice-of-america-ceo-including-job-cuts-nbc-news\/","title":{"rendered":"U.S. judge voids 2025 actions taken by Kari Lake as Voice of America CEO, including job cuts – NBC News"},"content":{"rendered":"

NBC News poll: Trump struggles on immigration, prices and Iran as Democrats hold a midterm edge<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

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A federal judge ruled on Saturday that Kari Lake\u2018s leadership of the U.S. Agency for Global Media for much of last year violated federal law, invalidating a sweeping series of actions she took to cut staff and end many operations at its Voice of America unit.
In another blow to the Trump administration\u2019s attempts to diminish various government agencies, U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth granted a summary judgment in favor of plaintiffs \u2014 including VOA journalists and a union representing federal employees \u2014 who argued that Lake\u2018s appointment as acting CEO and actions she took in that role ran afoul of the Federal Vacancies Reform Act and the Constitution\u2019s Appointments Clause.
Lamberth ruled that Lake was ineligible to serve as acting CEO because she was not employed by USAGM when former CEO Amanda Bennett resigned in January 2025, and had not been confirmed by the Senate to any other federal post. Lake officially joined USAGM in March as a senior adviser. A November 21 news release from the agency called her deputy CEO.
The judge also rejected the administration\u2019s argument that Lake could wield CEO authority through a delegation from previous acting CEO Victor Morales.
Saturday\u2019s decision marks at least the third time Lamberth has ruled against the Trump administration in cases involving the Voice of America. The judge in April and September halted plans that would have put many VOA employees out of work, although the April ruling was later overturned by an appeals court.
Lake vowed to appeal Lamberth\u2019s latest ruling. \u201cJudge Lamberth has a pattern of activist rulings \u2014 and this case is no different,\u201d she said in a statement.
Lawyers for the plaintiffs did not immediately return a request for comment.
Under the Vacancies Act, actions taken by someone not lawfully serving in a vacant office \u201cshall have no force or effect\u201d and cannot be ratified, Lamberth wrote. That standard could threaten the legal standing of Lake\u2018s decisions, including a reduction-in-force affecting hundreds of employees that remains under a court-ordered suspension.
\u201cAs a consequence, any actions taken by Lake during her asserted tenure as acting CEO between July 31 and November 19, 2025…are void,\u201d Lamberth wrote.
Voice of America, which had broadcast in 49 languages to 420 million people across more than 100 countries, was limited to four languages under the administration\u2019s efforts to dismantle the agency.
Reuters
© 2026 NBCUniversal Media, LLC<\/p>\n

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NBC News poll: Trump struggles on immigration, prices and Iran as Democrats hold a midterm edge news AlertsThere are no new alerts at this timeA federal judge ruled on Saturday that Kari Lake\u2018s leadership of the U.S. Agency for Global Media for much of last year violated federal law, invalidating a sweeping series of actions […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":203355,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-203354","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-us","8":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/203354","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=203354"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/203354\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/203355"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=203354"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=203354"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=203354"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}