Judge rules Trump order barring NPR, PBS funding unconstitutional
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A U.S. District Court Judge ruled Tuesday that President Trump’s attempt to bar federal agencies and departments from providing funding to NPR or PBS was unconstitutional.
Trump’s “Ending Taxpayer Subsidization of Biased Media” executive order, signed last May, instructed the “heads of all agencies” to “terminate, to the maximum extent consistent with applicable law, any direct or indirect funding of NPR and PBS.” At the time, legal experts questioned its constitutionality.
U.S. District Court Judge Randolph Moss found that sections of the executive order were “viewpoint discriminatory and retaliatory” and violated the First Amendment’s Free Speech clause. He permanently enjoined the heads of the Office of Management and Budget, government agencies and the National Endowment for the Arts from implementing those sections.
Trump’s executive order “discriminates against NPR and PBS by barring them—and only them—from receiving any federal grants or other funding, and it does so based on the President’s disapproval of their speech. They are told, in effect, that they need not apply,” Moss wrote in the 62-page opinion.
“It is difficult to conceive of clearer evidence that a government action is targeted at viewpoints that the President does not like and seeks to squelch,” Moss wrote.
NPR CEO Katherine Maher celebrated the order as 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. ”
“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,” Maher continued in a statement. “Public media exists to serve the public interest — that of Americans — not that of any political agenda or elected official. NPR and our Member Stations will continue delivering independent, fact-based, high-quality reporting to communities across the United States, regardless of the administration of the day. “
PBS responded to the ruling in a statement issued by a spokesperson. “We’re thrilled with today’s decision declaring the executive order unconstitutional. As we argued, and Judge Moss ruled, the executive order is textbook unconstitutional viewpoint discrimination and retaliation, in violation of longstanding First Amendment principles. At PBS, we will continue to do what we’ve always done: serve our mission to educate and inspire all Americans as the nation’s most trusted media institution.”
The judgment follows the judge’s ruling in February to consolidate separate lawsuits brought by NPR and three Colorado stations and PBS and Lakeland PBS against the executive order.
The judge declared that NPR and PBS’s allegation of “unlawful interference in the workings of the CPB” were moot because CPB has since dissolved.
“The CPB no longer exists, and no Court order declaring the Executive Order unlawful as applied to the CPB can afford NPR, PBS, or their member stations any meaningful relief,” Moss wrote.
Moss directed the parties to submit a joint status report “proposing next steps” by April 15.
It wasn’t about freedom of press, It was about using taxpayer dollars to support press organizations that are clearly and deliberately politically one sided to the democrat party. This includes their unfair and unbalanced hiring practices. Use private funds for that. The judge is clearly a leftist and his judgement biased. Hopefully and appeal will over turn this poor decision that affects half the voters and how their tax dollars are spent.