A federal judge ordered the Trump administration on Tuesday to disburse congressionally approved grant money it has withheld from Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, a federally funded news organization that provides independent reporting in countries with limited press freedom.
The judge, Royce C. Lamberth of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, ordered the Trump administration to pay the news organization $12 million for its April funding. Judge Lamberth appeared to close a loophole from his previous ruling, which allowed the Trump administration to effectively hold funds for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty while facially complying with the court mandate.
“In this case,” the judge wrote in his ruling, “it was Congress who ordained that the monies at issue” should go to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty in legislation signed by President Trump himself.
“In short: The current Congress and President Trump enacted a law allocating funds to the plaintiffs,” he concluded.
The judge, an appointee of President Ronald Reagan, also offered an unusual defense of the federal judiciary and its nonpartisan nature, as Mr. Trump has in recent months called for federal judges’ impeachment and his administration has teetered toward open defiance of courts in some cases.
In recent months, Judge Lamberth wrote, “people from both inside and outside government have variously accused the courts — myself included — of fomenting a constitutional crisis, usurping the Article II powers of the presidency, undercutting the popular will or dictating how executive agencies can and should be run.”
