Embattled Voice Of America's Fate Uncertain After Brief Apparent Reprieve

The future of Voice of America remains in flux after a federal appellate court Saturday paused a ruling reversing the dismantling of the embattled news outlet — a day after journalists were told they would soon return to work.

A Justice Department email sent to attorneys representing VOA employees on Friday said the agency would begin a "phased return" to office and resume programming next week. But by Saturday afternoon, a divided D.C. Circuit Court panel issued a stay of a lower court order that would have restored the outlet.

VOA was set to begin its return after being off the air for almost two months, after the Trump administration halted programming in a March 14 executive order targeting a number of federal agencies and offices including the U.S. Agency for Global Media, the parent agency of the government-funded media outlet.

Now, plans for the outlet are immediately unclear, after the ruling in favor of the Trump administration Saturday.

A spokesperson for the USAGM did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the agency's plans following the weekend win.

The effort to dismantle the government-backed news outlet has been at the center of a pitched legal battle. U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth ordered the Trump administration to restore Voice of America in a preliminary injunction issued April 22. Lamberth argued that the administration’s decision to dismantle VOA likely violated the constitution.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Brenda González Horowitz confirmed the return to office in an email sent to attorneys representing VOA employees. The email also confirms that all VOA employees have regained system access.

“USAGM currently expects staff to begin to return to the office next week, as security, building space, and equipment issues require a phased return,” González Horowitz wrote in the email, which was obtained by POLITICO. The Washington Post first reported on VOA’s looming return.

VOA has operated for over 80 years to report “accurate, objective, and comprehensive” news that will “present the policies of the United States clearly and effectively,” according to its charter.

The Trump administration in March ordered that federal grants through USAGM will be reviewed and “eliminated to the maximum extent consistent with applicable law.” A D.C. Circuit panel paused orders blocking the cuts to USAGM funding for other outlets Thursday, but did not stop the order to return Voice of America staff to work.

The Saturday order changes that, with appellate Judges Neomi Rao and Gregory Katsas — both Trump appointees — ruling together to pause the part of the lower court order requiring the government "take all necessary steps to return USAGM employees and contractors to their status prior" to Trump's executive order.

They found that the lower court likely did not have jurisdiction to order the employees back to work.

Judge Nina Pillard, an Obama appointee, dissented Saturday, writing that the decision is tantamount to "silencing Voice of America for the foreseeable future."

But even when employees were looking at a return to work, some question whether or not the agency will be able to return to its previous state.

“We're going to have to bring VOA out of a deep coma,” Steve Herman, VOA’s chief national correspondent, said in an interview with POLITICO before Saturday's ruling. “And is it possible that it'll ever regain full consciousness? That remains to be seen, because so much of the brain of VOA was destroyed by trying to strangle us.”