WASHINGTON -- Radio Free Asia, which transmits uncensored news to millions of people living under authoritarian regimes in Asia, filed a lawsuit on Thursday to restore congressionally-mandated funding that was abruptly frozen earlier this month.
The lawsuit asserts that denying funding for RFA, which comes through grants administered by the U.S. Agency for Global Media, or USAGM, violated federal laws, including the U.S. Constitution, because only Congress has exclusive power over federal spending.
The legal complaint was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia by law firm Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP and Democracy Forward on behalf of RFA.
News of the possible closure of RFA has prompted Chinese state media to exult, with a journalist from a Chinese Communist Party-controlled publication hailing it as “EXCELLENT NEWS.”
RFA President and CEO Bay Fang called the termination “unlawful.”
“RFA remains committed to fulfilling its Congressional mandate of providing a voice that counters the propaganda of the Chinese Communist Party and other authoritarian regimes in Asia,” Fang said in a press release.
“They may be celebrating RFA’s defunding right now, but we are confident that we shall prevail in blocking the unlawful termination of our grant,” she said.
The legal complaint also names as defendants Victor Morales, acting CEO of USAGM; Kari Lake, senior advisor to Morales; Russell Vought, director of the U.S. Office of Management and Budget; and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.
The termination of the grant, announced March 15, has forced RFA to furlough most of its Washington-based staff.
The termination came hours after U.S. President Donald Trump issued an executive order calling for the reduction of non-statutory components of USAGM, the federal agency that funds RFA and several other independent global news organizations. Lake subsequently posted a statement that the action was required as the agency was “irretrievably broken.”
Journalists ‘at risk of imprisonment’
RFA was established by congressional statue. It has enjoyed bipartisan support since its founding in 1996 in the wake of the 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre in Beijing.
It sends news in nine languages to countries and regions across Asia that have little or no press freedom, such as North Korea, China, Myanmar and Vietnam, providing independent news and information to millions of people every week by radio, television and online means.
Thursday’s lawsuit cites RFA’s “groundbreaking” reporting on a host of developments, including atrocities against Uyghurs in China’s northwestern region of Xinjiang, the cover-up by the Chinese Communist Party of COVID-19 fatalities, attempts to erase Tibetan culture and language, and the civil war in Myanmar.
The lawsuit contends that through USAGM’s actions to terminate funding, “RFA’s operations have already been effectively shuttered, making it nearly impossible to perform its statutory mission.”
“Its journalists — who often risk their lives to provide reliable and unbiased news in countries that are hostile to a free press — may soon lose RFA’s advocacy and protection and, as a result, will face an even greater risk of imprisonment and physical harm," the filing says.
The lawsuit states that RFA has furloughed more than 200, or 75%, of its U.S. domestic staff, and has terminated or suspended contracts for 93% of its international and domestic freelance journalists.
It also notes that dozens of journalists on employment-based visas in the United States could be furloughed or terminated and may be forced to return to their home countries “where some will face immediate arrest and detention because of their journalism.”
RFA is seeking a temporary restraining order barring USAGM and the other defendants from impounding congressionally appropriated funds, and a stay in the termination of its grant. RFA contends it is due nearly $35 million in funds appropriated to it by Congress up to Sept. 30, 2025.
The Trump administration’s moves to slash news organizations funded by the U.S. Congress, including Voice of America and those funded through federal grants like RFA and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, have already triggered a slew of lawsuits.
On Tuesday, a U.S. district court granted a request from RFE/RL for a temporary restraining order against the U.S. Agency for Global Media over the termination of its funding.
The judge held that USAGM did not adequately justify its decision and found that forcing the closure of RFE/RL while it challenges the agency’s decision would cause “irreparable harm.”
Edited by Malcolm Foster and Mat Pennington.