U.S. District Judge Randolph D. Moss ruled on Tuesday that portions of President Trump’s May 1, 2025 executive order were “unlawful and unenforceable.”
The executive order claimed NPR and PBS do not present “a fair, accurate, or unbiased portrayal of current events,” and directed all federal agencies to terminate any direct and indirect funding to the organizations.
NPR and three Colorado stations, including Aspen Public Radio, argued the order amounted to viewpoint discrimination in a lawsuit filed a few weeks later.
All federal agencies are now prohibited by Judge Moss’s ruling from adhering to the executive order.
That decision doesn’t affect Congress’s rescission package last summer, which canceled the lion’s share of federal funding for public media — roughly $1.1 billion over a two-year period.
But an attorney representing some of the plaintiffs said public radio stations can now apply for federal grants that would have otherwise been unattainable.
“It would have been a waste of time while the order was in place and enforceable to even file such an application, because it would be dead on arrival,” said Steve Zansberg, an attorney representing three Colorado member stations that joined the lawsuit as co-plaintiffs: Colorado Public Radio, Aspen Public Radio and KSUT Tribal Radio.
He went on to celebrate plaintiffs like Aspen Public Radio for standing up for First Amendment rights.
“It protects not just the press, but all of us — the freedom of speech, and [this ruling] is a resounding victory for that,” Zansberg said.
In his ruling, Judge Moss wrote it would be difficult for the Trump administration to prove that it had goals beyond the “suppression of expression.”
“It is difficult to conceive of clearer evidence that a government action is targeted at viewpoints that the President does not like and seeks to squelch,” Moss wrote.
He went on to say that it was NPR and PBS’ critical coverage of the President that prompted the order, rather than a “yet-to-be-attained platonic ideal of ‘unbiased’ journalism.”
Judge Moss reasserted Trump’s right to express his opinions on the news outlets, but he can't legally wield his governmental power to deny them federal funding.
Breeze Richardson, executive director of Aspen Public Radio, said the victory would impact the entire public radio network.
“Today’s ruling is a critical moment, not just for Aspen Public Radio, but for all the NPR stations we went to Washington to defend, and really for independent media as a whole,” Richardson said. “Any attempt to influence or restrict a free press strikes at the heart of our democracy, and today’s ruling sends a clear message that we answer to those we serve, not those in power.”
Editor’s Note: Aspen Public Radio reports on itself like any other organization, and no administrative staff reviewed this story before publication.
