Judge rules Trump order eliminating NPR, PBS funding is unconstitutional; The Washington Post, March 31, 2026

 Scott Nover , The Washington Post; Judge rules Trump order eliminating NPR, PBS funding is unconstitutional

Trump’s order violated the First Amendment rights of the public media giants, a federal judge in Washington found.

"A federal judge in Washington struck down part of President Donald Trump’s executive order targeting funding for NPR and the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) on Tuesday, ruling that it was unconstitutional retaliation that violated their press freedom rights under the First Amendment.

The May 1, 2025, executive order, titled “Ending Taxpayer Subsidization of Biased Media,” cut off funding to public media — with Trump calling out what he perceived as left-wing bias in NPR’s and PBS’s news reporting.

“The message is clear,” U.S. District Judge Randolph Moss, a Barack Obama appointee to the federal bench, wrote in an opinion. “NPR and PBS need not apply for any federal benefit because the President disapproves of their ‘left-wing’ coverage of the news.” He added that the action amounted to “viewpoint discrimination.”"