From The Hill: National Public Radio (NPR) is suing President Trump’s administration over his executive order targeting public broadcasting funding, alleging the move violates the outlet’s First Amendment rights.
In the lawsuit, filed in federal court in Washington, D.C., NPR argues Trump’s order “flatly contravenes statutes duly enacted by Congress and violates the Separation of Powers and the Spending Clause by disregarding Congress’s express commands. It also violates the First Amendment’s guarantees of freedom of speech and of the press.”
“The Order’s objectives could not be clearer,” the suit reads. “The Order aims to punish NPR for the content of news and other programming the President dislikes and chill the free exercise of First Amendment rights by NPR and individual public radio stations across the country.”
Trump’s executive order, signed earlier this month, directs Congress to strip federal funding from NPR and PBS, saying “no media outlet has a constitutional right to taxpayer subsidies, and the Government is entitled to determine which categories of activities to subsidize.”
NPR CEO Katherine Maher released a lengthy statement Tuesday morning, fuming over the withdrawal of taxpayer funding and claiming that NPR is a “non-partisan news organization that adheres to and upholds the highest standards of public service in journalism.”
“NPR has a First Amendment right to be free from government attempts to control private speech as well as from retaliation aimed at punishing and chilling protected speech,” Maher claimed, while still insisting NPR should receive government funding.
Maher further wrote in her statement:
This unlawful Executive Order directs federal agencies, as well as the independent nonprofit Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), to withhold all federal funding from NPR and PBS. It also directs CPB to “cease indirect funding to NPR and PBS” by mandating that local public radio and television stations not use federal funds to acquire NPR or PBS programming.
This is retaliatory, viewpoint-based discrimination in violation of the First Amendment. The Supreme Court has ruled numerous times over the past 80 years that the government does not have the right to determine what counts as “biased.” NPR will never agree to this infringement of our constitutional rights, or the constitutional rights of our Member stations, and NPR will not compromise our commitment to an independent free press and journalistic integrity.
Donald Trump Jr. reacted to the lawsuit, writing, “Why should taxpayers be forced to fund NPR’s bullshit leftwing propaganda?”
Why should taxpayers be forced to fund NPR’s bullshit leftwing propaganda? https://t.co/nx7JP7aG5T
— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) May 27, 2025
BREAKING: NPR has just sued President Trump for revoking their federal funding, saying the action “threatens the existence of [the] public radio system that millions of Americans across the country rely on.” pic.twitter.com/QBEpqo2D8m
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) May 27, 2025
NEWS: NPR and three Colorado public radio stations sue Trump White House over effort to ban federal funding for NPR & PBS
The lawsuit calls Trump’s executive order “textbook retaliation” for protected free speech – threatening public radio
My storyhttps://t.co/NX0GaZf4xb
— David Folkenflik (@davidfolkenflik) May 27, 2025
NPR has filed a lawsuit challenging President Trump’s executive order directing the end of federal funding of public media https://t.co/cbP7kLLXsp
— The Wall Street Journal (@WSJ) May 27, 2025
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