NPR, the longstanding public broadcasting network, is standing up to President Donald Trump’s war on the media after filing a lawsuit this week. On Tuesday (May 27), NPR and three Colorado public radio stations filed a lawsuit stating that President Trump’s executive order to cut funding for the network and PBS is unconstitutional.
In a report from the network, NPR, Colorado Public Radio, Aspen Public Radio, and KSUT filed a suit in a District of Columbia court alleging that Trump’s sweeping executive order to end funding to the entities is a violation of their constitutional right to free speech.
“It is not always obvious when the government has acted with a retaliatory purpose in violation of the First Amendment. ‘But this wolf comes as a wolf,’” reads a portion of the lawsuit filing. “The Order targets NPR and PBS expressly because, in the President’s view, their news and other content is not ‘fair, accurate, or unbiased.’”
President Trump, White House budget director Russell Vought, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, and Maria Rosario Jackson, the chair of the National Endowment for the Arts, are all named as defendants.
“The Executive Order is a clear violation of the Constitution and the First Amendment’s protections for freedom of speech and association, and freedom of the press,” NPR President and CEO Katherine Maher added in a statement.
U.S. District Court Judge Randolph D. Moss is overseeing the matter. The same judge is also overseeing a similar case with the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) also suing President Trump.
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Photo: Brooks Kraft / Getty
NPR Sues President Donald Trump Over Cutting Funding
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