{"id":120798,"date":"2025-05-29T08:25:04","date_gmt":"2025-05-29T16:25:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2025\/05\/29\/trump-announces-plan-to-cancel-npr-for-bias-is-immediately-sued-for-first-amendment-how-does-it-go\/"},"modified":"2025-05-29T08:25:04","modified_gmt":"2025-05-29T16:25:04","slug":"trump-announces-plan-to-cancel-npr-for-bias-is-immediately-sued-for-first-amendment-how-does-it-go","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2025\/05\/29\/trump-announces-plan-to-cancel-npr-for-bias-is-immediately-sued-for-first-amendment-how-does-it-go\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump Announces Plan To Cancel NPR For \u2018Bias,\u2019 Is Immediately Sued For FIRST AMENDMENT, HOW DOES IT GO?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
(Photo by Win McNamee\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Another day, another lawsuit prompted by the president\u2019s compulsion to announce his intent to violate the law. This time the complaint<\/a> is by National Public Radio, along with three public radio stations out of Colorado who seek to restore funding cuts unilaterally imposed by the White House.<\/p>\n

The president wasn\u2019t subtle about this (or any other) one. In a May 1 executive order<\/a>, he ordered the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) to \u201ccease direct funding to NPR and PBS, consistent with my Administration\u2019s policy to ensure that Federal funding does not support biased and partisan news coverage.\u201d An accompanying \u201cFact Sheet\u201d<\/a> was even more brazen. <\/p>\n

\u201cNPR and PBS have fueled partisanship and left-wing propaganda with taxpayer dollars, which is highly inappropriate and an improper use of taxpayers\u2019 money,\u201d it blared, accusing the public broadcasters of making \u201csignificant in-kind contributions to the Democrat party and its political causes.\u201d<\/p>\n

A list of those \u201ccontributions\u201d include \u201cavoided the term \u2018biological sex\u2019 when discussing transgender issues,\u201d \u201cdefending looting and suggesting that crime fears are racist,\u201d \u201cfeatured drag queen Lil Miss Hot Mess on a program meant for kids ages 3-8,\u201d \u201cinsisted COVID-19 did not originate in a lab and refused to explore the theory,\u201d and \u201crefused to cover the Hunter Biden laptop story, calling it a waste of time and a distraction, despite that it was highly relevant to the presidential election.\u201d<\/p>\n

Also, ummm \u2026<\/p>\n

\n

NPR ran a Valentine\u2019s Day feature around \u201cqueer animals,\u201d in which it suggested the make-believe clownfish in \u201cFinding Nemo\u201d would\u2019ve been better off as a female, that \u201cbanana slugs are hermaphrodites,\u201d and that \u201csome deer are nonbinary.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The mating habits of mollusks and political offspring aside, this is an unabashed declaration that the government is engaging in viewpoint discrimination. The president is openly retaliating against public broadcasters because he doesn\u2019t like their content \u2014\u00a0a flagrant violation of the First Amendment. And the White House went one further in his effort to kneecap NPR and PBS, decreeing that CPB should \u201ccease indirect funding to NPR and PBS, including by ensuring that licensees and permittees of public radio and television stations, as well as any other recipients of CPB funds, do not use Federal funds for NPR and PBS.\u201d This would effectively bar local stations from carrying NPR\u2019s content, including Morning Edition<\/em>, All Things Considered<\/em>, and Weekend Edition<\/em>, three staples of most public radio stations\u2019 lineups. And it implicates freedom of association, along with freedom of the press \u2014 a twofer!<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Order is textbook retaliation and viewpoint-based discrimination in violation of the First Amendment, and it interferes with NPR\u2019s and the Local Member Stations\u2019 freedom of expressive association and editorial discretion,\u201d the plaintiffs argue.<\/p>\n

They also note that Congress allocated $535 million to CPB for fiscal years 2025, 2026, and 2027, to be distributed in accordance with the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967. That law specifically prohibits<\/a> \u201cany department, agency, officer, or employee of the United States to exercise any direction, supervision, or control over public telecommunications, or over the Corporation or any of its grantees or contractors, or over the charter or bylaws of the Corporation, or over the curriculum, program of instruction, or personnel of any educational institution, school system, or public telecommunications entity.\u201d The law also obligates<\/a> CPB to spend 25 percent of that allocation to support public radio and 75 percent to support public television. And so the president\u2019s personal belief that \u201cGovernment funding of news media in this environment is not only outdated and unnecessary but corrosive to the appearance of journalistic independence\u201d is entirely irrelevant.<\/p>\n

The broadcasters are represented by a team from Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher that includes: famed First Amendment lawyer Ted Boutros; former Legal Director of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press Katie Townsend; and Miguel Estrada, who served in the solicitor general\u2019s office under both the Bush and Clinton. They designated the case related to CPB\u2019s pending suit<\/a> over termination of board members, securing a spot on Judge Randolph Moss\u2019s docket in DC. <\/p>\n

No hearing has yet been set in the matter, but presumably by the time the parties appear in court, the president will have reiterated several more times that this decision is based wholly on his disgust with NPR\u2019s programming.<\/p>\n

And PS Banana slugs are<\/em> hermaphrodites, you absolute weirdos.<\/a><\/p>\n

NPR v. Trump<\/a> [Docket via Court Listener]<\/p>\n

\n

Liz Dye<\/a>\u00a0lives in Baltimore where she produces the Law and Chaos\u00a0substack<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0podcast<\/a>.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

The post Trump Announces Plan To Cancel NPR For \u2018Bias,\u2019 Is Immediately Sued For FIRST AMENDMENT, HOW DOES IT GO?<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"
(Photo by Win McNamee\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Another day, another lawsuit prompted by the president\u2019s compulsion to announce his intent to violate the law. This time the complaint<\/a> is by National Public Radio, along with three public radio stations out of Colorado who seek to restore funding cuts unilaterally imposed by the White House.<\/p>\n

The president wasn\u2019t subtle about this (or any other) one. In a May 1 executive order<\/a>, he ordered the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) to \u201ccease direct funding to NPR and PBS, consistent with my Administration\u2019s policy to ensure that Federal funding does not support biased and partisan news coverage.\u201d An accompanying \u201cFact Sheet\u201d<\/a> was even more brazen. <\/p>\n

\u201cNPR and PBS have fueled partisanship and left-wing propaganda with taxpayer dollars, which is highly inappropriate and an improper use of taxpayers\u2019 money,\u201d it blared, accusing the public broadcasters of making \u201csignificant in-kind contributions to the Democrat party and its political causes.\u201d<\/p>\n

A list of those \u201ccontributions\u201d include \u201cavoided the term \u2018biological sex\u2019 when discussing transgender issues,\u201d \u201cdefending looting and suggesting that crime fears are racist,\u201d \u201cfeatured drag queen Lil Miss Hot Mess on a program meant for kids ages 3-8,\u201d \u201cinsisted COVID-19 did not originate in a lab and refused to explore the theory,\u201d and \u201crefused to cover the Hunter Biden laptop story, calling it a waste of time and a distraction, despite that it was highly relevant to the presidential election.\u201d<\/p>\n

Also, ummm \u2026<\/p>\n

\n

NPR ran a Valentine\u2019s Day feature around \u201cqueer animals,\u201d in which it suggested the make-believe clownfish in \u201cFinding Nemo\u201d would\u2019ve been better off as a female, that \u201cbanana slugs are hermaphrodites,\u201d and that \u201csome deer are nonbinary.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The mating habits of mollusks and political offspring aside, this is an unabashed declaration that the government is engaging in viewpoint discrimination. The president is openly retaliating against public broadcasters because he doesn\u2019t like their content \u2014\u00a0a flagrant violation of the First Amendment. And the White House went one further in his effort to kneecap NPR and PBS, decreeing that CPB should \u201ccease indirect funding to NPR and PBS, including by ensuring that licensees and permittees of public radio and television stations, as well as any other recipients of CPB funds, do not use Federal funds for NPR and PBS.\u201d This would effectively bar local stations from carrying NPR\u2019s content, including Morning Edition<\/em>, All Things Considered<\/em>, and Weekend Edition<\/em>, three staples of most public radio stations\u2019 lineups. And it implicates freedom of association, along with freedom of the press \u2014 a twofer!<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Order is textbook retaliation and viewpoint-based discrimination in violation of the First Amendment, and it interferes with NPR\u2019s and the Local Member Stations\u2019 freedom of expressive association and editorial discretion,\u201d the plaintiffs argue.<\/p>\n

They also note that Congress allocated $535 million to CPB for fiscal years 2025, 2026, and 2027, to be distributed in accordance with the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967. That law specifically prohibits<\/a> \u201cany department, agency, officer, or employee of the United States to exercise any direction, supervision, or control over public telecommunications, or over the Corporation or any of its grantees or contractors, or over the charter or bylaws of the Corporation, or over the curriculum, program of instruction, or personnel of any educational institution, school system, or public telecommunications entity.\u201d The law also obligates<\/a> CPB to spend 25 percent of that allocation to support public radio and 75 percent to support public television. And so the president\u2019s personal belief that \u201cGovernment funding of news media in this environment is not only outdated and unnecessary but corrosive to the appearance of journalistic independence\u201d is entirely irrelevant.<\/p>\n

The broadcasters are represented by a team from Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher that includes: famed First Amendment lawyer Ted Boutros; former Legal Director of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press Katie Townsend; and Miguel Estrada, who served in the solicitor general\u2019s office under both the Bush and Clinton. They designated the case related to CPB\u2019s pending suit<\/a> over termination of board members, securing a spot on Judge Randolph Moss\u2019s docket in DC. <\/p>\n

No hearing has yet been set in the matter, but presumably by the time the parties appear in court, the president will have reiterated several more times that this decision is based wholly on his disgust with NPR\u2019s programming.<\/p>\n

And PS Banana slugs are<\/em> hermaphrodites, you absolute weirdos.<\/a><\/p>\n

NPR v. Trump<\/a> [Docket via Court Listener]<\/p>\n

\n

Liz Dye<\/a>\u00a0lives in Baltimore where she produces the Law and Chaos\u00a0substack<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0podcast<\/a>.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(Photo by Win McNamee\/Getty Images) Another day, another lawsuit prompted by the president\u2019s compulsion to announce his intent to violate the law. This time the complaint is by National Public Radio, along with three public radio stations out of Colorado who seek to restore funding cuts unilaterally imposed by the White House. The president wasn\u2019t […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":120681,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-120798","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-above_the_law"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/xira.com\/p\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Trump-Grimace-scaled-1-620x413-SJpuDK.jpeg?fit=620%2C413&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120798","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=120798"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120798\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/120681"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=120798"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=120798"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=120798"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}