Appeals Court Rules Kari Lake Illegally Fired VOA Director

A federal appeals court panel ruled Tuesday that the Trump administration illegally fired Voice of America Director Michael Abramowitz without approval from an independent oversight board.

The unanimous decision from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit upholds a lower court order that blocked the removal of the broadcaster’s director. Judge Cornelia Pillard wrote for the three-judge panel that the law establishing the International Broadcasting Advisory Board serves as a durable barrier against any breach of the firewall protecting the journalistic integrity of Voice of America and the affiliate networks. The panel consisted of Chief Judge Sri Srinivasan and Judge Cornelia Pillard, both put in place by President Barack Obama, alongside Judge Florence Y. Pan, an appointee of President Joe Biden.

The unanimous D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals determined that Royce Lamberth, the judge appointed by President Ronald Reagan who issued the initial ruling, possessed the legal authority to restore Abramowitz to his position.

Kari Lake Terminated Abramowitz After He Refused Reassignment

The legal dispute stems from August 2025, when Kari Lake, then serving as a senior adviser to the agency’s acting CEO, delivered an ultimatum to Abramowitz requiring him to accept a lower-level post in Greenville, North Carolina, or face termination.

When Abramowitz refused the reassignment and called the move illegal, the agency terminated his employment. In March of this year, Lamberth had ruled that Lake illegally served while leading USAGM during the agency’s dissolution, and the case itself is formally docketed as Michael Abramowitz v. Kari Lake.

Under a statute enacted in 2021, the director of Voice of America cannot be dismissed without a majority vote from the International Broadcasting Advisory Board, according to Yahoo.

However, after returning to office, President Donald Trump dismissed six of the board’s seven members, leaving the body without a quorum to approve any removal. With the exception of Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the VOA has been without a board since January 2025, resulting in a lack of a quorum.

The Justice Department argued before the appellate panel that the challenge should have been directed to the Merit Systems Protection Board, which handles standard federal employment disputes, and challenged the constitutionality of the removal restrictions. Regarding Abramowitz’s argument that alternative legal avenues would fail to remedy his injury, the court observed that the defendants offered no counterarguments.

Presidential Authority to Dismiss Board Members Exerts Indirect Control

The appellate panel determined that the president maintains indirect influence over the broadcaster’s director, as the executive branch holds the authority to remove board members; specifically, because President Donald Trump retains the power to dismiss board members at will, he continues to exert control over Abramowitz, albeit in a more indirect manner than the defendants proposed.

This decision mirrors recent actions taken by the high court, including a Supreme Court decision in June that permitted Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook to stay in her role while removal litigation proceeded, even though the court ruled in a separate case on that same day to broaden the president’s authority to terminate other government employees.

Tuesday’s ruling preserves a key administrative win for Abramowitz, who has spent roughly a year and a half on paid administrative leave alongside approximately 1,300 other VOA employees.

The broadcaster’s operations have faced sweeping reductions following an executive order signed by President Donald Trump in March 2025 to scale down the U.S. Agency for Global Media, which also oversaw Radio Free Europe and Radio Free Asia. Before the administration challenged operations in court, VOA reached approximately 361 million people weekly across about 100 countries in 49 languages.

I am gratified by this result and look forward to getting back to the important work Voice of America does worldwide on behalf of the American people,

Michael Abramowitz, Director of Voice of America

While the court order upholds the restoration of Abramowitz to his legally installed post, broader litigation regarding the future size and operations of the international broadcaster remains ongoing. Abramowitz, several VOA journalists, unions, and the international organization Reporters Without Borders filed lawsuits against Donald Trump’s administration over attempts to dismantle the broadcaster, and Senior Judge Royce Lamberth indefinitely blocked the administration’s attempts to liquidate VOA in April 2025.

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