by Misty Severi
A federal judge Tuesday blocked President Donald Trump’s order to cut funding for National Public Radio and Public Broadcasting Service, alleging the executive order violates the First Amendment because it amounts to “viewpoint discrimination.”
Trump signed the executive order last May, stating that NPR and PBS no longer served a meaningful purpose warranting taxpayer funding because there are so many private media choices in the digital era.
U.S. District Judge Randolph Moss said the order is unlawful and unenforceable because it violates the First Amendment right to free speech, which “does not tolerate viewpoint discrimination and retaliation of this type.”
“It is difficult to conceive of clearer evidence that a government action is targeted at viewpoints that the President does not like and seeks to squelch,” Moss, an Obama appointee, wrote in the order, according to the Associated Press.
“The Executive Order seeks to exclude NPR and PBS from receiving federal grants or other funding because they have provided more positive coverage of his political opponents than of his party and allies, because their news coverage, in his view, tips left, and because they were critical of him. On this record, there can be no doubt that the Executive Order does not target Plaintiffs merely because they have a viewpoint or consistent perspective and therefore fail to live up to some yet-to-be-attained platonic ideal of “unbiased” journalism, but because he views their speech as unfavorable to him and the Republican party,” the judge wrote.
The Trump administration is expected to appeal the ruling, which also comes after Congress reduced federal funding for PBS last year.
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Misty Severi is a reporter for Just the News. Zachery Schmidt is the digital editor of The Star News Network and contributed to this story.
The “Judge” is an idiot. NPR and PBS can say whatever they want. Now, however, they need to pay their own way. Another case of a liberal jackass in a black robe.