Fascism
makes
strange
bedfellows.
Especially
when
the
fellows
who
refuse
to
get
in
bed
with
the
fascists
wind
up
bunking
together.
And
so
we
find
ourselves
grateful
to
Judge
Royce
Lamberth
for
saving
Voice
of
America
from
the
depredations
of
the
DOGE
bros.
First
Judge
Harvie
Wilkinson,
then
Lamberth!
Whodathunkit?
On
March
14,
President
Trump
issued
an
executive
order
“Continuing
the
Reduction
of
the
Federal
Bureaucracy,”
targeting
several
congressionally-created
and
-funded
agencies,
including
the
United
States
Agency
for
Global
Media,
the
parent
agency
for
VOA,
Cuba
Broadcasting,
Radio
Free
Europe/Radio
Liberty,
Radio
Free
Asia,
Middle
East
Broadcasting
Networks
and
the
Open
Technology
Fund.
Since
World
War
II,
the
US
government
has
operated
the
media
outlets
to
export
American
values.
The
stations
were
a
crucial
propaganda
tool
during
the
Cold
War
and
continue
to
project
American
soft
power
across
the
globe.
Naturally
Trump
wants
to
cut
them,
along
with
the
Woodrow
Wilson
International
Center
for
Scholars
in
the
Smithsonian
Institution,
the
Institute
of
Museum
and
Library
Services,
the
United
States
Interagency
Council
on
Homelessness,
the
Community
Development
Financial
Institutions
Fund,
and
the
Minority
Business
Development
Agency.
And
so
he
ordered
that
“the
non-statutory
components
and
functions
…
shall
be
eliminated
to
the
maximum
extent
consistent
with
applicable
law,
and
such
entities
shall
reduce
the
performance
of
their
statutory
functions
and
associated
personnel
to
the
minimum
presence
and
function
required
by
law.”
It’s
the
same
death
sentence
he’s
decreed
for
so
many
federal
agencies
already.
And
courts
have
largely
let
him
do
it.
Judge
Richard
Leon
declared
himself
powerless
to
stop
DOGE
shutting
down
the
US
African
Development
Foundation.
And
Judge
Beryl
Howell
did
not
step
in
to
save
the
US
Institute
for
Peace,
even
allowing
DOGE
to
steal
the
agency’s
$500
million
building.
Only
Judge
Loren
Alikhan
blocked
the
government
from
burning
down
the
Inter-American
Foundation
entirely,
ordering
reinstatement
of
its
director
now
rather
than
at
the
conclusion
of
litigation
because
“Reinstatement
matters
little
if
the
officer
of
a
government
organization
returns
to
a
pile
of
rubble.”
But
now
Judge
Lamberth,
with
an
assist
from
Judge
Paul
Oetken
in
the
Southern
District
of
New
York,
has
stepped
up
to
the
plate
with
the
apparently
novel
conclusion
that
firing
all
but
two
or
three
employees
and
cutting
99.9
percent
of
programming
is
not
“consistent
with
applicable
law.”
USAGM
filed
suit
first
in
New
York,
noting
that,
within
days
of
the
executive
order,
upwards
of
75
percent
of
the
staff
had
been
fired
and
virtually
every
contract
was
terminated.
The
agency,
which
is
being
led
by
Arizona’s
perennial
losing
Republican
candidate
Kari
Lake,
announced
on
its
website:
This
agency
is
not
salvageable.
From
top-to-bottom
this
agency
is
a
giant
rot
and
burden
to
the
American
taxpayer—a
national
security
risk
for
this
nation—and
irretrievably
broken.
While
there
are
bright
spots
within
the
agency
with
personnel
who
are
talented
and
dedicated
public
servants,
this
is
the
exception
rather
than
the
rule.
And
indeed,
USAGM
ceased
broadcasting
across
multiple
platforms.
On
March
28,
Judge
Oetken
granted
a
TRO
banning
the
further
dismantling
of
USAGM,
finding
that
it
“appears
to
violate,
at
minimum,
the
Take
Care
Clause
and
separation
of
powers
principles
of
the
United
States
Constitution,”
as
well
as
the
Administrative
Procedure
Act.
Then
a
week
later
he
transferred
the
case
to
DC,
to
be
joined
with
the
pending
VOA
suit
before
Judge
Lamberth.
Judge
Lamberth,
a
Reagan-appointee
who
has
been
on
the
bench
since
the
earth
cooled,
can
charitably
be
called
an
iconoclast.
(The
uncharitable
term
is
kook.)
He
authorized
wiretaps
of
reporters,
allowed
those
weirdos
at
Judicial
Watch
to
depose
Hillary
Clinton
and
her
top
aides,
and
blocked
tort
claims
against
the
government
by
Gitmo
detainees,
but
by
God
he
is
not
going
to
let
VOA
go
down
on
his
watch.
He
rubbished
the
notion
that
the
government
carefully
reduced
USAGM
to
it’s
statutory
minimum,
noting
that
the
defendants
shut
down
the
entire
80-year-old
radio
network
within
a
week
of
Trump’s
executive
order
and
produced
zero
documentation
of
any
deliberation
or
planning.
“They
took
immediate
and
drastic
action
to
slash
USAGM,
without
considering
its
statutorily
or
constitutionally
required
functions
as
required
by
the
plain
language
of
the
EO,
and
without
regard
to
the
harm
inflicted
on
employees,
contractors,
journalists,
and
media
consumers
around
the
world,”
he
raged.
“It
is
hard
to
fathom
a
more
straightforward
display
of
arbitrary
and
capricious
actions
than
the
Defendants’
actions
here.”
And
he
scoffed
at
the
claim
that
foreign
reporters
here
on
J-1
visas
were
not
irreparably
harmed
because,
as
the
government
put
it,
they
would
merely
be
forced
them
to
leave
the
country
“earlier
than
scheduled.”
“The
immediate
termination
of
John
Does
3
and
4’s
contracts
and
visas
is
‘not
merely
speeding
up
the
inevitable’
because
the
hastiness
of
the
defendants’
actions
eliminates
the
notice
that
Does
3
and
4
would
otherwise
have
‘to
find
a
new
job
to
sponsor
a
subsequent
visa,
or
to
apply
for
another
kind
of
visa
to
stay
in
the
country,’”
he
raged
incredulously.
“The
defendants’
actions
virtually
ensure
that
Does
3
and
4
will
be
subject
to
deportation
immediately.”
The
judge
declined
the
Trump
administration’s
suggestion
that
he
impose
a
bond
on
the
defendants
—
a
request
the
DOJ
was
obliged
to
make
as
a
result
of
yet
another
fakakta
EO.
“That
is
squarely
the
case
here,
where
the
defendants
are
already
constitutionally
required
to
distribute
funds
in
accordance
with
the
yearly
appropriations
bill,
so
a
bond
would
merely
impose
a
financial
barrier
to
litigation
for
plaintiffs
seeking
to
vindicate
their
statutory
and
constitutional
rights,”
he
snorted.
Instead
he
ordered
the
government
to
rehire
everyone
who
worked
there
before
the
March
14
EO
and
submit
monthly
status
reports
to
the
court
demonstrating
that
VOA
got
every
penny
Congress
allocated
to
it.
See?
It
can
be
done!
All
it
takes
is
one
pissed-off
octogenarian
who
is
all
out
of
fucks
to
give.
Widakusawa
v.
Lake
[Docket
via
Court
Listener]
Liz
Dye lives
in
Baltimore
where
she
produces
the
Law
and
Chaos substack and podcast.