NPR Sues Trump White House Over Move to Defund NPR, PBS

The lawsuit calls the President's actions a "violation of the First Amendment" The post NPR Sues Trump White House Over Move to Defund NPR, PBS appeared first on TheWrap.

May 27, 2025 - 15:40

NPR and three public Colorado radio stations have filed a lawsuit against the Trump White House following his administration’s decision to cut congressional funding to NPR and PBS. Trump’s proposed cuts to the organizations happened earlier this month.

“It is not always obvious when the government has acted with a retaliatory purpose in violation of the First Amendment. ‘But this wolf comes as a wolf,'” the legal brief for the case states. “The Order targets NPR and PBS expressly because, in the President’s view, their news and other content is not ‘fair, accurate or unbiased.'”

The lawsuit specifically names Trump, White House budget director Russell Vought, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and chair of the National Endowment for the Arts Maria Rosario Jackson as its defendants. It also says that Trump’s executive order usurps Congress’ right to decide and direct how federal money will be spent. Free speech lawyer Theodore J. Boutrous filed the lawsuit for NPR and the Colorado stations, which include Colorado Public Radio in Denver; Aspen Public Radio, which serves the Roaring Fork Valley; and KSUT, which serves the Four Corners region in Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Utah.

“The Executive Order is a clear violation of the Constitution and the First Amendment’s protections for freedom of speech and association, and freedom of the press. It is an affront to the rights of NPR and NPR’s 246 Member stations, which are locally owned, nonprofit, noncommercial media organizations serving all 50 states and territories,” NPR CEO Katherine Maher said in a statement to press. “The Order threatens the existence of the public broadcasting system, upon which tens of millions of Americans rely for vital news, information and emergency alerts.”

On May 1, Trump signed an executive order that would cease federal funding to NPR and PBS. The order also commanded the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the publicly funded nonprofit that oversees the two organizations as well as other government agencies, to identify and stop indirect sources of funding that may be going to NPR and PBS. Trump cited unspecified political “bias” as the reason for his actions.

Between the two broadcasters, NPR and PBS receive roughly half a billion dollars in public funds through CPB. That amounts to about 16% of PBS’ budget and 1% of NPR’s. The remainder of the funding for both organizations comes from private donations.

“The president’s blatantly unlawful executive order, issued in the middle of the night, threatens our ability to serve the American public with educational programming, as we have for the past 50-plus years,” PBS CEO Paula Kerger said the day after Trump’s executive order. “We are currently exploring all options to allow PBS to continue to serve our member stations and all Americans.”

The post NPR Sues Trump White House Over Move to Defund NPR, PBS appeared first on TheWrap.