Judge orders 1,042 Voice of America employees back to work

Date

Mar 17, 2026

Kind

Press & media

Legal outcome

Reversed on appeal

Source

nbcnews.com ↗

Agency or court

USAGM; D.D.C., Judge Lamberth

What happened

Lamberth ordered VOA's 1,042 full-time employees returned to work, finding the dismantling "arbitrary and capricious" and writing that Lake "repeatedly thumbed her nose" at statutory requirements and that the administration had "made no effort to defend the merits" of the downsizing. A week after staff began trickling back, a D.C. Circuit panel allowed VOA to stop bringing furloughed employees back.

Publisher

NBC News

Full record

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