YES!!! COURT RULES THAT TRUMP’S DEFUNDING OF NPR AND PBS IS ILLEGAL!!
“The President may, of course, engage in his own expressive conduct, including criticizing the views, reporting, or programming of NPR, PBS, or any other news outlet with whom he disagrees. The government may also fund its own speech and may fund government programs that promote specific perspectives on issues of public importance, and it may decide which views or perspectives to convey – and which not to convey- in any such government speech or program. And it may impose limits on federal grants to ensure that they are deployed to further the legitimate purposes of the program and may pick and choose among applicants based on legitimate criteria. But the First Amendment draws a line, which the government may not cross, at efforts to use government power – including the power of the purse – “to punish or suppress disfavored expression” by others.”
So starts this *excellent* opinion which was just issued this afternoon by Judge Randolph Moss of the District Court of D.C.. He is, of course, referring to Trump’s effort to defund, dismantle, and decimate NPR and PBS. Instead, in Trump’s face, we get this delightful, delicious, de-lovely 62-page opinion and order! (Included for Notes from the Front members.)
At the heart of this case is another one of those infernal executive orders (speaking of which the news JUST broke as I was typing this that he *just* signed one about mail-in voting *including* building state lists of all citizens who are allowed to vote – I’ll be getting that out to you in a bit, so I’ll need to cut this a bit short (trust me, it’s unconstitutional as hell)).
Of course that executive order, “Ending Taxpayer Subsidization of Biased Media”, basically gutted all funding, direct and *indirect*, to NPR and PBS.
Explains the Court, “It directs all federal agencies to stop providing funding to NPR and PBS, regardless of the agency, the nature of the grant, or the use of the funds. The Executive Order, then, goes on to provide specific instructions to the CPB and to all executive agencies.”
Now, the bad news is that much of the funding that NPR and PBS received came through the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), and in the case of getting rid of CPB, Trump actually did it right: he went through Congress. However NPR was still able to get much of the contemporary funding released (through a new entity) before the CPB went essentially kaput.
So basically at this point the primary issue is over the content of the executive order, and whether a president can turn off the funding tap from other, *non*-CPB federal sources simply because he doesn’t like what a funded entity is saying.
And he can’t.
And while part of that EO talked about ceasing funding through the (now gone) CPB, it also mentioned no more funding, direct or indirect, from *any* federal agency.
And the Court says “unh uh”.
The Court even made a point of saying that *were* the CPB still around, the EO with respect to the CPB was unconstitutional and even the CPB had said that.
And speaking of unconstitutional executive orders, I have to close this celebration to go tackle the mail-in voting one.
Sorry that this one here is relatively brief and dry – there is just *so much* going on with the Courts and administration today!
Notes from the Front members: the opinion and order are in your inbox now! The order includes a whole lot of “moot in part” and “denied” in part, which is primarily because all the issues regarding CPB are now moot because it’s, you know, gone.
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https://annepmitchell.substack.com/p/yes-court-rules-that-trumps-defunding
P.S. If you actually read all the way to the bottom please leave a comment that includes the words “NPR” and “PBJ”. It will show me that my efforts aren’t in vain and that people actually *do* read these things, and it will drive those who just skim crazy wondering why everyone is talking about NPR and PBJ. ;~)
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