MFIA Clinic Wins Temporary Restraining Order in Voice of America Case
A federal judge issued a temporary restraining order4 prohibiting the Trump administration from taking further steps to silence Voice of America (VOA), a government-funded broadcaster with an audience of over 300 million people around the world.
The Media Freedom and Information Access5 (MFIA) Clinic at Yale Law School represents seven Voice of America journalists and assisted the clinic’s co-counsel in preparing for the successful hearing on the temporary restraining order, which was granted on March 28.
Seven Voice of America journalists, three unions representing Voice of America employees, and a nonprofit organization sued the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM), the parent agency that oversees Voice of America; special adviser to USAGM Kari Lake; and Acting Director of USAGM Victor Morales in response to the Trump administration’s efforts to shut down Voice of America and demolish its journalistic independence.
The lawsuit, filed in the Southern District of New York, asserts that the agency failed to fulfill its statutory-required functions and violated the First Amendment, separation of powers, and Administrative Procedure Act when it shut down news broadcasts, suspended contractors, and ordered staff not to report to work.
“The temporary restraining order is a critical step in ensuring that VOA can continue to fulfill its statutory mandate to facilitate the free flow of information, especially in countries where government censorship, propaganda, and disinformation are pervasive,” said clinic student Grace Chisholm ’27. “The First Amendment shields against such blatant efforts to silence the press based on perceived viewpoint.”
Voice of America is one of several government-funded international broadcasting services that provides news to an international audience of millions. It is an essential source of objective reporting for those living and working in countries without a free press, according to the clinic. Through statute, Congress mandated that VOA provide its services on a continuing basis. Congress also recognized that for VOA to have credibility it needed editorial independence and therefore forbade the executive branch from interfering with the content of Voice of America’s reporting, according to the clinic.
The shuttering of VOA threatens the independence of the American press, access to information abroad, and the livelihoods of the journalists and federal workers who enable critical, round-the-clock broadcasting in countries with limited access to credible reporting.”
—Rick Da ’26
On March 14, President Trump signed an executive order directing USAGM to eliminate the “non-statutory components and functions” of the agency. The following day, the White House issued a statement deriding VOA for the content and nature of its news coverage and perceived views of its staff. The next day all VOA staff were placed on indefinite administrative leave and all VOA news broadcasts stopped.
“The shuttering of VOA threatens the independence of the American press, access to information abroad, and the livelihoods of the journalists and federal workers who enable critical, round-the-clock broadcasting in countries with limited access to credible reporting,” said Rick Da ’26, a law student in the clinic. “It also undermines Congress’s mandate to preserve VOA’s editorial independence — raising serious concerns about politically motivated interference with journalism that provides a rare lifeline to trustworthy news in tightly controlled media environments.”
Clinic student Eli Scher-Zagier ’25 said “the only winners from dismantling the U.S. Agency for Global Media and cancelling its grants are the censorship regimes around the world that want to replace free reporting and communication with repression and anti-American propaganda. As a federal judge pointed out last Friday, the defendants not only violated the law, they also did not even bother trying to follow the executive order they claimed to be implementing. That order sought to eliminate non-statutorily required functions, but federal statutes mandate and specifically fund USAGM’s activities.”
The Media Freedom and Information Access Clinic represents the seven individual journalists along with the Government Accountability Project and the law firm Emery Celli Brinckerhoff Abady Ward & Maazel LLP, which represents all plaintiffs. Other plaintiffs include the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), The NewsGuild-CWA, the American Foreign Service Association (AFSA), and Reporters Without Borders (RSF).
AFGE, AFSCME, NewsGuild-CWA, and AFSA are separately represented by Democracy Forward and their respective in-house legal departments. State Democracy Defenders Fund represents Reporters Sans Frontiers (RSF), Reporters Without Borders (RSF USA), AFGE, and AFSCME.
The Media Freedom and Information Access5 (MFIA) Clinic at Yale Law School is dedicated to defending freedom of information, advancing government accountability, and addressing emerging challenges in the intersection of law and technology.
