Trump Appointee Unconstitutionally Interfered With Voice Of America, Judge Rules

The chief executive over the Voice of America and its sister networks has acted unconstitutionally in investigating what he claimed was a deep-seated bias against President Trump by his own journalists, Chief US District Judge for the District of Columbia Beryl Howell has ruled. Citing the journalists' First Amendment protections, Judge Howell ordered US Agency for Global Media CEO Michael Pack to stop interfering in the news service's news coverage and editorial personnel matters. She struck a deep blow at Pack's authority to continue to force the news agency to cover the president more sympathetically. Actions by Pack and his aides have likely "violated and continue to violate [journalists'] First Amendment rights because, among other unconstitutional effects, they result in self-censorship and the chilling of First Amendment expression," Judge Howell wrote in her opinion. "These current and unanticipated harms are sufficient to demonstrate irreparable harm."