Judge Rules Against Trump’s Order to End Federal Funding for NPR And PBS Claiming it Violates the First Amendment

A federal judge has ruled President Donald Trump’s 2025 executive order going after funding for NPR and PBS unconstitutional, deeming it “unlawful and unenforceable” on the grounds of the First Amendment, according to Consequence.

Trump signed the executive order, titled “Ending Taxpayer Subsidization of Biased Media,” in May of last year. In it, he called for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), a corporation that distributes money to mostly television and radio stations, to end direct and indirect funding for NPR and PBS. He also directed any other federal agencies to terminate funding to the two media organizations. The president claimed that they were failing to deliver fair and unbiased news.

U.S. District Judge Randolph Moss said it was clear that the Trump administration was targeting viewpoints the president disagreed with or disliked. “The First Amendment draws a line which the government may not cross, at efforts to use government power – including the power of the purse – ‘to punish or suppress disfavored expression’ by others,” Moss wrote.

Moss said the part of the order where Trump bars all agencies from providing funding to NPR and PBS “crosses that line” because it specifically singles them out on the due to their speech. Free speech “does not tolerate viewpoint discrimination and retaliation of this type,” he said.

As reported in Consequence, while the ruling will not reverse the $1.1 billion in federal funding that the Trump administration-backed bill rescinded from the CPB last year, it could prevent the administration from denying future funding to the organizations.

“We’re thrilled with today’s decision declaring the executive order unconstitutional,” PBS said in a statement. “As we argued, and Judge Moss ruled, the executive order is textbook unconstitutional viewpoint discrimination and retaliation, in violation of longstanding First Amendment principles. At PBS, we will continue to do what we’ve always done: serve our mission to educate and inspire all Americans as the nation’s most trusted media institution.”