Federal judge permanently blocks order to defund NPR and PBS as unconstitutional

U.S. District Judge Randolph Moss of the D.C. federal court permanently blocked Trump's executive order defunding NPR and PBS on March 31, 2026, ruling the order violated the First Amendment's prohibition on viewpoint discriminationViewpoint DiscriminationWhen the government restricts speech based on the speaker's perspective or ideology rather than a neutral standard.Key ConceptViewpoint DiscriminationWhen the government restricts speech based on the speaker's perspective or ideology rather than a neutral standard.Open conceptBookmark.

Moss issued a 62-page opinion finding the executive order singled out two specific speakers and, "on the basis of their speech, bars them from all federally funded programs." He wrote it was "difficult to conceive of clearer evidence that a government action is targeted at viewpoints that the President does not like and seeks to squelch."

The order was titled "Ending Taxpayer Subsidization of Biased Media" and directed every federal agency to terminate "any direct or indirect funding" to NPR and PBS.

Trump signed the defunding executive order in May 2025. The Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the federal intermediary that distributed roughly $535 million annually to public stations, had operated on a two-year advance appropriation Congress had approved for fiscal years 2026 and 2027.

Congress, at Trump's urging, voted in July 2025 to rescind $1.1 billion in already-appropriated CPB funding. The House passed the rescission 216 to 213, and Trump signed it into law on July 24, 2025. The CPB voted to dissolve on January 5, 2026, eliminating the federal distribution mechanism for public broadcasting funds.

Moss drew a constitutional line between two distinct actions. Congress's appropriations decision — which he explicitly did not block — and the executive branch's viewpoint-based retaliation against specific media organizations. The First Amendment bars the president from financially punishing news organizations for their coverage, even when Congress has separately cut the same funding.

NPR President and CEO Katherine Maher said after the ruling that "public media exists to serve the public interest — that of Americans — not that of any political agenda or elected official." PBS President and CEO Paula Kerger called the executive order "textbook" unconstitutional viewpoint discrimination and said she was thrilled with the decision.

The practical effect of Moss's injunction was limited because CPB had already dissolved and the congressional rescission had already eliminated the funding pipeline. The Justice Department was expected to appeal the ruling.

Public broadcasting in the United States dates to the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967, signed by President Lyndon Johnson. Congress designed CPB with structural independence from the executive branch precisely to insulate public radio and television from political pressure. The 2025 defunding attempt was the most direct executive assault on that independence in the system's 58-year history.

More than 70 percent of CPB's annual budget went directly to locally owned public radio and television stations. For TV stations, CPB funding accounted for roughly 17 percent of operating budgets; for radio stations, about 8 percent — with smaller rural stations often far more reliant on those funds.