A federal judge blocked President Donald Trump's efforts to shut down Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, a federally funded news organization that broadcasts in 27 languages to 23 countries across Eastern Europe, Central Asia, the Caucasus, and the Middle East.

Judge Royce Lamberth of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia granted RFE/RL a temporary restraining order against U.S. Agency for Global Media senior adviser Kari Lake and the Trump administration, ruling that the organization's claim of an Administrative Procedure Act violation is likely to succeed on its merits.

"The leadership of USAGM cannot, with one sentence of reasoning offering virtually no explanation, force RFE/RL to shut down—even if the President has told them to do so," Lamberth wrote in his ruling.

The organization brought forward a variety of legal complaints, "including an alleged violation of APA, alleged violations of various provisions of the Constitution (including the Appropriations and Spending Clauses, the Presentment Clause, the Take Care Clause, and separation-of-powers principles), a request for mandamus relief, and an ultra vires claim."

Lamberth argued the U.S. Agency for Global Media's attempted liquidation of RFE/RL was contrary to the position of Congress, which appropriates funds for the organization every year.

"Congress has found that 'it is the policy of the United States to promote the right of

freedom of opinion and expression' and that 'open communication of information and ideas

among the peoples of the world contributes to international peace and stability' ... RFE/RL has, for decades, operated as one of the organizations that Congress has statutorily designated to carry out this policy," he wrote.

Trump signed an executive order earlier this month drastically cutting USAGM and other U.S.-funded organizations.

The executive order said, "Non-statutory components and functions of the following governmental entities 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."

A March 15 letter from Lake directed RFE/RL to disband, citing a shift in the government's priorities.

TRUMP DESERVES PRAISE FOR EXPOSING VOICE OF AMERICA’S LEFT-WING PROPAGANDA

The White House had grown incensed with USAGM's outlets, particularly Voice of America, which operates under the same umbrella as RFE/RL. A March 15 press release, titled "The Voice of Radical America," cited several VOA articles as evidence of alleged liberal bias, including one on "white privilege" and a video about transgender migrants seeking to enter the U.S.

“I have monitored the agency’s bureaucracy along with many of its reporters and concluded that it has essentially become a hubris-filled rogue operation often reflecting a leftist bias aligned with partisan national media. It has sought to avoid accountability for violations of journalistic standards and mismanagement,” Dan Robinson, who worked with VOA for 34 years, said.