and New York issued temporary restraining orders (TROs) that halted the Trump administration’s dismantling of the Voice of America and its affiliated news networks Somewhat counterintuitively, the two U.S. district court judges — one appointed by President Ronald Reagan and the other by President Barack Obama — did not rely on First Amendment protection of free speech or the press even though the administration’s actions were squarely aimed at media outlets the judges provisionally found that the administration had usurped congressional authority and violated a federal statute requiring agencies to offer a reasoned basis for their actions The cases were then consolidated in Washington before Judge Royce Lamberth, the Reagan appointee. On Apr. 22, Judge Lamberth issued a more conclusive, if still not final, ruling against the administration Lamberth granted plaintiffs a preliminary injunction consistent with the earlier TROs What stands out in the judge’s understated 37-page opinion is his apparent surprise at the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) unwillingness to argue the central point before the court or provide any reasonable arguments whatsoever as justification for shuttering the VOA and its affiliates As with the two earlier TROs, Judge Lamberth did not delve into the potentially sticky question of whether President Trump violated First Amendment protections of expression and the press when he shut down the VOA and its affiliates. The judge found the case relatively easy to resolve based on two other main grounds: the constitutional principle of separation of powers and the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) Congress has repeatedly authorized the VOA to carry out its mission of reporting the news accurately for foreign audiences and continually passed appropriation bills that allow the agency to fulfill that function observing that “the power to make law resides exclusively with the legislative branch,” as provided for by Article I or repeal statutes.’” The administration’s “unwillingness to expend funds in accordance with the congressional appropriations laws is a direct affront to the power of the legislative branch,” he wrote Congress alone “possesses the ‘power of the purse,’ which is ‘the ultimate check on the Judge Lamberth went on to explain that the separation of powers analysis is buttressed by the APA under which courts have the authority to set aside an executive branch action deemed “arbitrary or otherwise not in accordance with law.” The APA obliges an agency to explain policy changes in a reasoned manner the administration not only failed to provide “reasoned analysis,” the judge wrote it failed to engage in any analysis at all the earlier TROs were based on this failure the administration had the opportunity in written filings and in-person hearings to proffer some kind of reasoning “In their briefing before this court,” he wrote the administration’s attorneys “do not even use the words ‘arbitrary’ or ‘capricious’ anywhere even though the central holding of the TRO was that the defendants’ actions were arbitrary and capricious.” During a hearing before him “the defendants opted not to argue the merits of the arbitrary and capricious challenge despite being given several opportunities to do so.” The government made the elementary mistake of relying solely on a claim that Judge Lamberth lacked jurisdiction to hear the case It was a rudimentary error by the DOJ’s lawyers lawyers are trained to argue “in the alternative”: make the jurisdictional argument offer the substantive statutory argument as well Court challenges to all manner of Trump attacks on federal agencies are invoking the APA’s “arbitrary and capricious” standard The public won’t know the ultimate fate of these legal actions until the Supreme Court weighs in on the APA’s application to the White House’s campaign to uproot parts of institutional Washington But even if some of the challenges prevail the VOA’s servers and transmitters are already gathering dust Created during World War II to counter Nazi propaganda with factual news reporting the VOA morphed into a Cold War broadcasting tool used against the Soviet Union it has been a source of information for audiences in a variety of countries governed by repressive regimes who has demonstrated an affinity for Putin associating it with what he calls the “fake news” mainstream media It will be difficult to rebuild what has already been lost The Trump administration is demonstrating that its arbitrary and capricious actions may outrun the judiciary’s capacity to consider its lawfulness Editor’s note #1: Two groups of VOA employees One of the plaintiffs is Michael Abramowitz with whom the author has been friends since they worked together at a college newspaper in the early 1980s Editor’s note #2: This piece is part of the Collection: Just Security’s Coverage of the Trump Administration’s Executive Actions Readers may be especially interested in these essays: Ambassador Daniel Fried, The US Government’s Self-Harm in Killing Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (Mar Jean Garner, Journalists Who Took Risks for US-Funded Broadcasters Threatened Anew by Trump Shutdown (Mar Mark Pomar, Trump Move to Eliminate VOA, RFE/RL Ignores Lessons of Global Power (Mar Paul M. Barrett, Unpacking the Voice of America Litigation (Apr Paul M. Barrett (Bluesky - LinkedIn) is the deputy director and senior research scholar at the NYU Stern Center for Business and Human Rights He writes about the effects of social media on democracy Stay up to date with Just Security curated newsletters: Just Security provides expert analysis and informational resources on the issues that matter most—without paywalls Just Security is an editorially independent daily digital law and policy journal housed in the Reiss Center on Law and Security at the New York University School of Law Support Just Security in shaping a more informed and secure world by making a tax-deductible donation of any size through the NYU giving page Donate Now This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks The action you just performed triggered the security solution There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase You can email the site owner to let them know you were blocked Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page please perform a WhoIs lookup on kobi5.com and contact the registered owner Table Rock Road in Jackson County is closed from Gibbon Road to Wilson Road CENTRAL POINT, Ore. — UPDATE: The Jackson County Sheriff's Office has identified the suspect in this case. Details and an updated story are here - A wanted suspect died by apparent suicide Wednesday afternoon in the 6000 block of Table Rock Road in rural Central Point the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office reports JCSO deputies and US Marshals were in the area actively searching for a suspect with a warrant for 15 charges for child sex abuse The suspect was involved in a domestic altercation on Orr Drive in rural Central Point on March 16 where he menaced a woman with a firearm Deputies developed probable cause for his arrest for domestic violence-menacing Law enforcement learned of his whereabouts attempted to detain the suspect and he eluded capture in a vehicle around 2:10 p.m Deputies and US Marshals conducted a high-risk traffic stop near the intersection of Orr Drive and Table Rock Road the suspect died by apparent suicide by firearm at 2:15 p.m.," JCSO stated The suspect was wanted out of California on 15 child sex abuse charges - 10 counts of lewd and lascivious acts with a child under 14 and five counts of oral copulation with a child under 14 Oregon State Police responded to conduct further investigation San Francisco's central point of information for small businesses. Buy an existing businessThis information is about buying an existing business or transferring ownership.Find a commercial location for your businessRules for business Neighborhood Anchor Business registryFor businesses in continuous operation in San Francisco for at least 15 years.AboutThe Office of Small Business is the City's central point of information for small businesses located in the City and County of San Francisco preserve and protect small businesses in San Francisco We provide high quality direct services and programs and serve as a champion for San Francisco’s diverse small business community please perform a WhoIs lookup on kobi5.com and contact the registered owner.