Royce C. Lamberth

Rule Changes

Presiding over Widakuswara v. Lake; issued reinstatement order

Voice of America broadcast continuously for more than 80 years — through the Cold War, the fall of the Berlin Wall, and two Iraq wars. In March 2025, the Trump administration placed virtually its entire workforce on leave, froze its website, and pulled funding from every U.S.-backed international broadcaster. For the first time in VOA's history, the network went dark. One year later, U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth — a Ronald Reagan appointee — ordered 1,042 employees reinstated and broadcasting restored by March 23, ruling that the administration "provided nothing approaching a principled basis" for the shutdown and that the official who carried it out, Kari Lake, was never lawfully appointed.

Updated Mar 18