Appeals Court Stays Judge’s Order Reinstating FT Staff in VOA

A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit has issued a stay suspending a lower court’s mandate for Voice of America (VOA) employees to return to work, effectively extending a year-long period of paid leave for the organization’s full-time staff. Voice of America is a division of the U.S. Agency for Global Media, which is being restructured. They get paid and are on the federal payroll, but they are banned from working. Notably, the administration’s appeal to the courts focuses exclusively on reinstating staff rather than on the broader ruling by U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lamberth, leaving intact the judicial order to cease efforts to dismantle the organization. The administration can’t end the behemoth because it was created by an act of Congress, and Congres