Judge rules Trump's order to end funding for PBS, NPR was illegal First Amendment violationhttps://www.msn.com/en-us/tv/news/judge-rules-trump-s-order-to-end-funding-for-pbs-npr-was-illegal-first-amendment-violation/ar-AA1ZQSyi?ocid=hpmsn&cvid=1917ba57c60e4f2ed116d490df426de5&ei=24 🔗 [Link: msn.com/en-us/tv/news/judge-rules-trump-s-order-to-end-funding-for-pbs-npr-was-illegal-first-amendment-violation/ar-AA1ZQSyi/]Todd Spangler (31 March 2026)
A federal judge ruled that President Donald Trump's executive order to end funding for PBS and NPR public media violated the First Amendment.
In a ruling Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Randolph Moss of the District Court for D.C. ruled Tuesday that Trump's executive order to cease funding for NPR and PBS is unlawful and unenforceable. The judge wrote that the First Amendment right to free speech "does not tolerate viewpoint discrimination and retaliation of this type."
"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," wrote Moss. A copy of the ruling is available at this link. Moss was nominated to the bench by President Obama.
Variety has reached out the White House for comment.
Both NPR and PBS had sued Trump over his executive order suspending U.S. federal funding for public media in an executive order on May 1, 2025. Trump's executive order alleged the public-media organizations engaged in "biased and partisan news coverage" and instructed the board of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting to "cease direct funding to NPR and PBS" to the "maximum extent allowed by law."
