Judge Puts A Stop To Donald Trump’s Effort To Shut Down Radio Free Europe

deadline.com:

A federal judge has put a stop, for now, to Donald Trump‘s effort to abolish Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, one of the U.S.-funded broadcasting entities targeted by a presidential executive order.

U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth granted a temporary restraining order to the broadcaster, concluding that the administration’s efforts to shut it down would cause irreparable harm. “The Court concludes, in keeping with Congress’s longstanding determination, that the continued operation of RFE/RL is in the public interest,” Lamberth wrote.

He wrote that the U.S. Agency for Global Media acted “arbitrarily and capriciously” in cutting off grant funding to the non-profit broadcaster. “Congress has found that ‘it is the policy of the United States to promote the right of freedom of opinion and expression’ and that ‘open communication of information and ideas among the peoples of the world contributes to international peace and stability.’ RFE/RL has, for decades, operated as one of the organizations that Congress has statutorily designated to carry out this policy.

The leadership ofUSAGM cannot, with one sentence of reasoning offering virtually no explanation, force RFE/RLto shut down—even if the President has told them to do so.” After Trump signed an executive order to dismantle the U.S.