A federal judge in Washington struck down part of President Donald Trump’s executive order targeting funding for NPR and the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) on Tuesday, ruling that it was unconstitutional retaliation that violated their press freedom rights under the First Amendment.
The May 1, 2025, executive order, titled “Ending Taxpayer Subsidization of Biased Media,” cut off funding to public media — with Trump calling out what he perceived as left-wing bias in NPR’s and PBS’s news reporting.
“The message is clear,” U.S. District Judge Randolph Moss, a Barack Obama appointee to the federal bench, wrote in an opinion. “NPR and PBS need not apply for any federal benefit because the President disapproves of their ‘left-wing’ coverage of the news.” He added that the action amounted to “viewpoint discrimination.”
The portion of the order stipulated that agency heads “shall identify and terminate, to the maximum extent consistent with applicable law, any direct or indirect funding of NPR and PBS.” Moss issued an injunction halting the federal government from permanently cutting off funding to the two entities.
In a fact sheet issued along with the executive order, the White House excoriated NPR and PBS, saying the media organizations “fueled partisanship and left-wing propaganda with taxpayer dollars, which is highly inappropriate and an improper use of taxpayers’ money.” The White House cited an NPR article about “queer animals” and a PBS documentary about a transgender teenager in deriding the public media giants.
NPR and PBS sued, saying the president’s targeting of them violated their First Amendment rights. Eleven months later, Moss sided with the outlets.
Moss wrote that NPR and PBS proved their cases definitively. “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,” he wrote. “To be sure, the President is entitled to criticize this or any other reporting, and he can express his own views as he sees fit. He may not, however, use his governmental power to direct federal agencies to exclude Plaintiffs from receiving federal grants or other funding in retaliation for saying things that he does not like.”
NPR President and CEO Katherine Maher called the ruling a “decisive affirmation of the rights of a free and independent press” and a win for NPR and its listeners. “The court made clear that the government cannot use funding as a lever to influence or penalize the press, whether as a national news service or a local newsroom.”
PBS spokesman Jeremy Gaines wrote in a statement that the organization is “thrilled” by the decision. “At PBS, we will continue to do what we’ve always done: serve our mission to educate and inspire all Americans as the nation’s most trusted media institution.”
Theodore J. Boutrous Jr., a partner at Gibson Dunn representing NPR, wrote in a statement that the ruling was a “significant victory” for the freedom of the press. “The district court’s decision bars the government from enforcing its unconstitutional Executive Order targeting NPR and PBS because the President dislikes their news reporting and other programming,” he said.
White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson wrote in a statement that “this is a ridiculous ruling by an activist judge attempting to undermine the law.”
“NPR and PBS have no right to receive taxpayer funds,” she continued, “and Congress already voted to defund them. The Trump Administration looks forward to ultimate victory on the issue.”
Moss’s ruling is a win for NPR and PBS in court, but it won’t restore the money they have already lost.
While the ruling blocks Trump’s executive order, it doesn’t override Congress, which, at Trump’s urging, eliminated $1.1 billion it had appropriated for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) in a rescission package last year. The CPB, which for decades directed congressional dollars to public media outlets including NPR, PBS and their respective member stations, shut down after a board vote in January.
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