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

A federal judge ruled Saturday that Kari Lake unlawfully led the US Agency for Global Media (USAGM) for several months last year and voided mass layoffs and other actions taken during that period to dismantle the agency.

The US Agency for Global Media (USAGM) is an independent federal agency that oversees the Voice of America (VOA), the US’s largest and oldest international broadcaster, and provides grants to Radio Free Asia, Radio Free Europe and other news agencies.

The Trump administration moved to defund the agency in early 2025 and appointed Lake to oversee the agency, but did not receive Senate confirmation for her role. Despite efforts to defund the agency, Congress appropriated half a billion dollars more than Lake requested in funding for the agency in 2026.

In her role, Lake cut contracts and over 1,000 staff positions at the agency when she was appointed to the role on 31 July before she relinquished the position on 19 November.

“Only the Appointments Clause or the Vacancies Act’s exclusive structure may authorize service as a principal officer, and Lake satisfies the requirements of neither the statute nor the Constitution,” US district court judge Royce C Lamberth wrote in the ruling.

Lamberth leaned on the ruling by the third circuit court of appeals that ruled the appointment of Alina Habba, Donald Trump’s former personal lawyer, to lead the US attorney’s office in New Jersey was invalid.

“Adopting Lake’s position would require the Court to find that the President can fill a first assistantship at any time during a vacancy in a Senate-confirmed office and then … elevate the first assistant to serve as the acting officer,” Lamberth said in the ruling.

Lake said in a statement on social media: “We will appeal this outrageous ruling from an activist DC District Court Judge.” Lake also reposted a claim that the judge slept through arguments in the trial, responding “not surprised. Morbid obesity can cause massive issues with blood sugar.”

Lamberth was appointed by Ronald Reagan in 1987.

Plaintiffs in the case, Voice of America’s White House bureau chief Patsy Widakuswara, Jessica Jerreat and Kate Neeper, said they felt “vindicated and deeply grateful” for the judge’s ruling in the case.

“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,” they said in a statement. “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.”