A federal judge ruled this weekend that Kari Lake acted unlawfully as she executed the Trump administration’s plan to dismantle the Voice of America.
U.S. District Court Judge Royce C. Lamberth said Saturday that all of Lake’s official actions over the last year were null and void, including the firing of more than 1,000 employees of the Voice of America and the U.S. Agency for Global Media, which oversees VOA.
President Trump chose Lake to lead the agency, but she was never confirmed by the Senate. Citing previous cases, Lamberth said that confirmation is essential since the federal rules are intended to “guard against the appointment of unfit characters, . . . from family connection, from personal attachment, or from a view to popularity.” Given the lack of confirmation, Lamberth ruled that Lake lacked the authority to act as the senior executive at the agency.
“Only the Appointments Clause or the Vacancies Act’s exclusive structure may authorize service as a principal officer, and Lake satisfies the requirements of neither the statute nor the Constitution,” Lamberth wrote in his ruling.
The ruling came in response to a lawsuit filed by a group of journalists who had been laid off by Lake. “We feel vindicated and deeply grateful,” the journalists said in a statement, adding that they hope the ruling is “a powerful step toward undoing the damage [Lake] has inflicted on this American institution.”
In a message to NPR News, Lake accused Lamberth, who was appointed to the bench by President Reagan, of being an “activist judge.” Lake said Lamberth’s ruling violates Trump’s “mandate to cut bloated bureaucracy, eliminate waste, and restore accountability to government.”